


No Easy Choice, But You’re Mine

by alltheselights



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alpha Harry, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Bartender Harry, Bottom Louis, Happy Ending, Hitman Louis, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Knotting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Minor Character Death, Omega Louis, Top Harry, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:35:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 45,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28746303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alltheselights/pseuds/alltheselights
Summary: Louis’ feet pound on the pavement as he runs, and the echo reverberates through the alley behind him. He drops the gun near a trash bin as he passes, his gloved fingers ensuring that it will never be traced back to him.He’s panting, his thighs ache, and there’s a cramp forming beneath his ribs on the right side, but all of that is nothing compared to the exhaustion clouding his brain.I can’t do this anymore,Louis thinks.Or: Louis is an omega hitman with one last job that goes a little sideways. Harry is the alpha bartender that looks a little too closely and cares a little too much.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 148
Kudos: 600
Collections: Bottom Louis Fic Fest 2020





	No Easy Choice, But You’re Mine

**Author's Note:**

> There are some additional warnings and details that I want to make sure everyone is aware of before reading. 
> 
> **Warnings - Please read!** Although it does not get overly graphic, there is violence in this fic, including beatings and shootings. Numerous minor characters are killed in this fic, including a few on-screen and numerous off-screen. There are a couple of serious injuries experienced by the main characters, though none fatal or permanently debilitating. There are mentions of prostitution, suicide, and drug use, including mentions of a non-fatal accidental drug overdose. 
> 
> Despite all this, I promise this fic is not nearly as scary as it sounds.
> 
> If you would like additional information about any of these warnings (including anything with spoilers that you feel would make you more comfortable reading), please feel free to ask me [on Tumblr](http://alltheselights.tumblr.com), [on Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/alltheselightts), or in the comments.
> 
> P.S. My previous username on this account was emma1234, just in case anyone doesn't recognize me.

The shot hits its target, just as it always does.

Louis doesn’t wait around to watch the body fall. He tries to avoid it when he can, and since this is one of those times, he opts to spin on his heels and get the hell out of here. The man now lying dead on the ground lives in a seedy flat nearby and always comes out back for a smoke around 9 PM, but otherwise, the streets in this area are generally deserted at this time of night.

Louis’ feet pound on the pavement as he runs, and the echo reverberates through the alley behind him. He drops the gun near a trash bin as he passes, his gloved fingers ensuring that it will never be traced back to him.

He’s panting, his thighs ache, and there’s a cramp forming beneath his ribs on the right side, but all of that is nothing compared to the exhaustion clouding his brain.

 _I can’t do this anymore,_ Louis thinks.

It’s only been five years, but Louis is tired. Tired of the sound of bodies dropping and the smell of gunpowder, tired of the ache in his chest that grows with every tally in his diary, tired of running and hiding and hoping he doesn’t get caught, tired of praying to a god he doesn’t even believe in when the guilt is too heavy a weight for him to carry. He’s just fucking tired.

Louis’ sisters are old enough now that they’re less reliant on his help. Lottie and Fizzy both have jobs themselves, and thankfully, their alpha status ensures they make more money than most. Even Daisy and Phoebe have used their Internet savviness to scrounge up some income as determined omega teenagers. Almost every bit of money that Louis hasn’t sent their way is saved in a shoe box beneath his bed, and he has enough to survive for a while until he’s able to find another job.

He’s not sure how James is going to feel about that yet, but he’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it. After months of debating whether or not to take the plunge, Louis can no longer be damned to care about the consequences. He’s done what was asked of him, and he wants out.

There are security cameras outside the pub around the corner, so Louis peels off the leather gloves and tucks them into his pocket before he reaches their line of sight. He gently tugs his fringe out from under his beanie, arranging it to frame his eyes just so, and slows to a walk.

There are several groups of people outside the pub who are laughing and talking loudly, completely oblivious to the gunshot that was just fired three blocks over. A police officer leans against the graffitied brick wall by the door, an alpha of course, and Louis makes sure to look up at him through his lashes and give him a shy smile as he passes.

“It’s a little late for a sweet omega like you to be out all alone,” the officer says as he pushes away from the wall. He leans forward onto his toes to create a more commanding presence, but he’s not tall or muscular enough for Louis to feel even the slightest prickle of interest. Louis hasn't slept with someone in so long that he can practically refer to himself as a virgin by now, he's pretty sure, but he still has a type. 

Louis giggles, playing this man like a fiddle. “Just on my way home from work, officer,” he says, licking his lips.

The officer leers slightly as he gives Louis a once-over, but he nods him along.

“Hurry home then,” he says, and Louis doesn’t need telling twice.

His smile drops as soon as he steps past the officer’s line of vision and he thrusts his hands in his pockets, hunching over slightly to make the trek home. He lives far enough away that he should probably catch the tube, but the fresh air might do him some good.

Louis arrives back at his flat half-frozen an hour later and it takes him five minutes to warm his hands up enough to even get his key in the lock. When he finally shoves the old metal door open, he breathes a sigh of relief to finally be home.

Louis hangs his jacket on the lone hook by the door and switches on the news while he warms up some leftover lasagna from the sweet elderly woman who lives in the next flat over.

“You’re too skinny and you have no alpha to take care of you,” Helene had said when she knocked on his door two days ago. “Please eat this, honey.” She does this just about every other week, and Louis always does what she asks.

The anchors on television are discussing a couple of accidental drug overdoses involving heroin, but Louis has little interest in that. Rather than listening, he walks over to his bookcase and pulls a small leatherbound diary off of the middle shelf. There’s a pen tucked inside it, which Louis pulls out carefully before opening the diary and finding the first page without writing.

He uncaps the pen, writes the date at the top of the page, and then draws a large X in the center of the otherwise blank space. He gives the ink time to dry and just stares at it for a moment. When he’s certain that it’s dry, he flips through the rest of the diary carefully, observing all the other dates and pages with X’s through them. 

Just one more after this, Louis hopes.

When a breaking news alert comes across the television, Louis startles. Not wanting to miss it, he quickly returns the diary to the shelf, placing it between a self-help book his sister bought him for Christmas last year and a book on psychology that Louis bought back when he still dreamt of graduating from uni. The good old days.

“Just a short time ago, a body was found in an alley by Lombard Street in central London. An ID found on the body revealed that the homicide victim is Simon Jones, a 46-year-old banker who was fired from his job last year. Friends reveal that Jones had gotten mixed up in the drug scene and—”

Louis quickly pulls the burner phone out of his pocket and snaps a picture of the television screen, which is showing an old photo of Jones that they probably pulled out of the employee directory of his former bank. The chyron at the bottom of the screen reads **SOURCES SAY HOMICIDE VICTIM WAS IN DRUG SCENE, NO SUSPECTS**.

Louis sends the photo to Jeff, James’ right-hand man.

When the news anchor begins talking about the lack of evidence found at the scene and the fact that there were no witnesses, he switches the telly off and walks back to the kitchen area of his small flat. His eyes settle on the microwave, and he mindlessly watches the dish spin until the timer buzzes.

Louis’ hands are shaking when he removes his dinner, but he just grips the dish tighter and walks to his bedroom. It’s in poor taste to eat in bed, but Louis lives alone and nobody ever comes in here anyway, so he gives himself a pass. The only one here to judge him is the plant his sister gave him last Christmas, but even that’s long dead.

Louis’ nest is spread across his bed, a mess of pillows and worn blankets and every soft hoodie from his closet. He rebuilt it in a fervor during his last heat, and it’s his best nest yet. He leaves his dinner on the upside-down crate he uses as a night table and shimmies out of his jeans and shirt before pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a maroon sweater that itches just a little.

Now dressed for bed and comfortable, he burrows himself into his nest with his lasagna. He takes the opportunity to scroll through his Twitter feed and text his sisters to go to bed, knowing full well that they’ll all ignore him. 

By the time he finishes eating, his eyelids are drooping, so he drops his phone and the empty dish onto the floor beside his bed and curls up. 

The shivers come on even stronger then, wracking his body until he has to bite his lip to avoid crying. Louis is used to it, but if there’s anything he’s learned, it’s that being used to pain doesn’t actually lessen the sting of it. Or at least, it doesn't for him. He pulls the blanket around him tighter and waits until his body starts to calm, the last few tears drying in tracks down his cheeks.

Louis awakens a few hours later and stumbles to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face, but he’s too tired to do much else. Before letting sleep overtake him once more, he yanks on the chain of the old lamp by his bed, which plunges him into darkness. 

He dreams of gunshots that night.

\--

Louis spends most of the next day in his nest, alternating between taking naps and scrolling through his phone listlessly. He texts Zayn around noon, hoping to drop by the restaurant where Zayn works most weekdays and meet up with him during his lunch break. When Zayn informs him that he’s doing a job for James today instead, Louis burrows back down into his nest.

By the time the sun sets, Louis decides that he’s been a pathetic, useless lump for far too long. He drags himself out of bed and whips up an easy pasta recipe that his mum taught him when he was still a teenager. It could use a little more onion powder, but he eats it anyway, the first meal he's bothered with all day. Louis may not be the best cook, mostly because he’s too exhausted most days to bother, but every time he makes a semi-successful meal, it fills him with pride.

“Omegas don’t only have to be housewives,” his mother used to say. “But cooking is still an important life skill. You need to be able to take care of your alpha, just as he will take care of you.” 

Louis snorts when he thinks back to her words. If only his mother saw him now, in his mid-20s and living in the cheapest flat he could find, killing men for a living, still falling just short with every recipe he tries, and most importantly, without an alpha in sight. He knows deep down that she would still be proud of him, and especially proud of the sacrifices he made for his family, but he also knows that this is far from the life she would’ve wanted for her only son.

Louis shakes himself out of his memories.

The thought of spending another night staring at the telly or the ceiling above his bed in his smelly flat is unbearable, so Louis decides he’s not going to do that. He’s going out instead.

There’s no point in dressing up much, but Louis still wants to at least look presentable. Unfortunately, when he looks at his reflection in the small mirror above the bathroom sink, he can’t help but wince.

There’s a fading bruise on his cheekbone from when a man threw a punch before Louis had a chance to fire his weapon about two weeks ago, though it’s not visible enough for Louis to bother covering up. The bags beneath his eyes are so dark that you’d think he hadn’t slept in ages, despite having spent most of the day in bed. Even his skin looks paler and more sickly than usual, the tan from beach trips with his sisters over the summer long since faded.

Still, his face is workable. Louis’ always been lucky enough to be one of those omegas that doesn’t have to try much, as his bone structure, bright blue eyes, soft fringe, and delicate body do most of the work for him. He lets them now too, simply running a comb through his hair and tousling it with water until he’s satisfied, applying some chapstick, and dressing in a black turtleneck and jeans so tight that even Zayn raises an eyebrow when he wears them.

His keys are in his hand and he’s just about to switch the light off when his burner phone buzzes from where he tossed it on the worn sofa the night before. Louis wants more than anything to just ignore and walk out, but he knows that’s probably a bad idea. James had given him that phone when Louis first started the job, and he’d made it clear that when he or one of his goons calls, Louis needs to answer. 

Louis picks it up and sighs heavily when he sees Jeff’s message.

**Thx. J wants to meet. Saturday 2 PM.**

The prospect of another job after such a busy few weeks puts a pit in Louis’ stomach, but he supposes there’s no better time than this to tell James that he wants out of the business. That also gives him a couple more days to decide what he’s going to say first.

Louis texts back a simple **K** and drops the phone back on the sofa. He normally brings both of his phones everywhere in case anything comes up from his sisters or from work, but he doubts Jeff will text him again so soon. The burner phone can stay on the sofa cushion tonight.

With only an hour or so left until the pubs close, there’s no time to waste if Louis wants a drink tonight. He grabs his jacket and shrugs it on, shoving his keys into his back pocket on his way out the door.

Just a five-minute walk to The Temptress, a few shots and a pint, and then all of his worries will be forgotten.

\--

It’s unusual for any omega to go to a pub alone unless they plan to meet up with a group of friends or their alpha, but Louis has never had to worry about that with this place. The owner is an alpha named Harry, and though Louis doesn’t know much about him aside from the fact that he’s far more handsome than any seedy bartender should be, he knows he's safe there.

The pub opened a few years after Louis moved into the area, and he was slightly traumatized from a kill that went sideways when he spotted it on his walk home. Louis didn’t think about how foolish it was for an omega to walk into an unknown pub on his own, especially when he wasn’t in the right state of mind, but at that moment, all he could think about was how much he wanted to get drunk.

He’d climbed onto one of the red velvet stools by the bar and asked for a pint without regard for the alphas leering at him in every direction, and though the bartender raised one eyebrow at him, he fulfilled the request without a single mocking remark about omegas and their alcohol tolerance.

Harry, as Louis learned from his faded name tag, had purchased the pub after giving up his previous job, and it quickly became clear to Louis that he was more interested in making money than in making judgment calls about anyone else’s life choices. The only exception to that was when alphas messed with omegas. If that happened, suddenly Harry was fine with making judgment calls.

When an alpha came on a little too strong to Louis later that first night and he’d started to panic, reflexes slowed by alcohol and brain too muddled to remember the basic self-defense he'd had to use so often, Harry had thrown the man out on his arse without a second thought. In fact, he'd barely broken a sweat in the process.

Unfortunately, the commotion also brought Harry’s attention to a sluggishly bleeding cut on Louis’ wrist from his fight earlier in the night. Louis remembers that the alpha offered Louis a plaster, and when Louis’ hands shook too much to place it himself, Harry had held his wrist still and done it himself. He hadn’t said a word while he did, and he’d kept his eyes trained downwards rather than looking at Louis’ face.

“Must’ve hit it on the corner of the bar when that alpha was here,” Louis had said in some desperate attempt to explain himself. Though Harry didn’t look like he believed Louis, he didn’t comment further.

Louis appreciated that, and that’s probably what Louis likes most about coming to The Temptress. Most alphas haven’t been told to shut up enough in their life and it shows, but Harry isn’t like that. He makes small talk with Louis when the omega is in the mood, stays quiet when he isn’t, and most importantly, he serves Louis the drinks that he wants without saying anything about it. They know little about each other, even after all this time, and though there’s something about that reality that bothers Louis, he also knows it’s for the best.

“Two shots of peach vodka, please,” Louis says when he reaches the bar in the present. Harry is cleaning a glass that seems to be getting dirtier the more he wipes it and he seems very focused on the movement, but Louis knows that Harry is aware of his presence because his nostrils always flare at the omega’s scent.

Louis has never been one to use scent neutralizers, mainly because the distracting nature of his scent actually helps in his line of work, but he also never really cared about the way alphas react to him until he met Harry. Maybe it’s because the alpha is mostly a mystery, even after two years of casual, albeit brief, interactions with one another, but something about seeing Harry react to Louis always sends a shiver down his spine.

“Coming right up,” Harry says, and Louis tries not to shiver a second time at the timbre of the man’s voice.

The pub is mostly empty aside from Louis and Harry, which is one of the benefits of showing up so close to closing on a weeknight. There are several alphas talking loudly in the corner, clearly a few pints deeper than they should be, and two omega girls are giggling over their phones at a small table by the door. Other than that, all of the pub's patrons have gone home for the night.

Harry places a shot glass in front of Louis and pours the vodka in that fancy way that bartenders do. Rather than looking at the alpha when he downs it, Louis closes his eyes and drinks, though he still can't help but wince at the burn. In this case, practice doesn’t make perfect, but Louis has gotten better at taking these. Though he’d still consider himself a lightweight, the hangovers aren’t as bad as they used to be. Or maybe it’s just that Louis is used to his head pounding.

When the last drops of vodka slip down Louis’ throat, he slams the shot glass down, opens his eyes, and nods at Harry that he’s ready for the next. Harry looks skeptical, but he pours and still says nothing, a silent looming presence that Louis finds impossible to ignore. He tries anyway, downing the second shot with only a slightly more exaggerated wince.

“One of those days?” Harry asks in a tone that Louis can’t identify.

Louis finally looks at him fully. His dark curls are messy and his green eyes are piercing, and as if that weren’t enough to overwhelm any omega, there’s also the cut of his jawline and the pronounced cupid bow of his lip. It’s unfair for Louis to have to see a face like that after a day like this.

Louis swallows hard when he realizes he’s been looking at Harry far too long for it to be written off as casual. It takes him another few seconds for his brain to reboot enough to realize that Harry asked him a question.

“You could say that,” Louis responds finally, letting out an awkward laugh. Harry smirks at that, the cockiness radiating off of him, and that only makes Louis overheat further. He rolls up the sleeves of his turtleneck slightly in a sad attempt to cool himself down, but it doesn’t help. Louis knows he’s starting to leak, even more so when he sees the alpha’s nostrils flare, and this is officially too much.

“Gonna run to the loo,” Louis says abruptly, though he knows he doesn’t owe the bartender an explanation. He jumps down from the stool and almost falls, steadying himself on the edge of the bar. When he chances a look up, he sees Harry reaching out from across the counter, as if he was trying to prevent Louis from falling despite the barrier between them. 

He’s not looking at Louis’ face though.

Instead, his eyes have fallen on the finger-shaped bruises on Louis’ wrist. They’re from a man Louis tried to sneak up on in the dimly lit hall outside an expensive flat last week. A floorboard creaked and Louis barely had time to react before the man had spun around and grabbed him, apparently blessed with great reflexes. Louis has enough experience and training that he was able to twist out of the man’s hold, giving him a swift kick to the shin and firing one shot to the head.

It wasn’t Louis’ best hit, but it also wasn’t his worst.

Harry’s eyes move from the bruises to Louis’ face and he opens his mouth as if he’s about to say something, but Louis is already spinning around and half running to the restroom.

When he flings open the door and enters the small room, lit only by a single bulb on the ceiling, he rests both arms on either side of the sink and exhales slowly.

“Fuck,” he mutters.

Suddenly, Louis wants more than anything else to be back home in his flat, safely tucked into his nest. There’s also part of him, a tiny part that Louis keeps buried deep down inside, that desperately wants Harry to be there tucking him in. Louis may know little about the alpha, but he does know that he’s attractive, tall, strong, and the only person that Louis has felt even the slightest bit of interest in since he moved here.

But there’s no point in wishing for anything like that.

Louis knows what he looks like and he knows that most alphas would be clamoring for a chance with him. He also knows that he's kind, loving, generous, intelligent, and would make an amazing mother one day, but he's not sure if any of that matters. In his current state, he's too much of a mess for a one-night stand, too touch-deprived and damaged, and any type of deeper relationship would make it impossible to hide what Louis does for a living. The thought of telling someone that he’s a hitman for a drug dealer with a prostitution ring is laughable, even if it is only something he took on so that he could help his sisters. Even beyond the illegality of it, there’s also the fact that no reasonable alpha would want an omega who spent five years trying to suppress his omega instincts during work hours just so he could get through the day.

Even if Louis does get out of the business like he wants to, it makes no difference. He’s forever marked by this job, and he would never be able to lie to his alpha about that.

“Fucking idiot,” Louis mutters, disgusted at himself for giving this even a second of thought. 

He’s not sure what’s gotten into him lately. Maybe it’s the exhaustion, maybe it’s the booze, or maybe it’s how close he’s felt to snapping and risking it all for the past few months, but whatever it is, he needs to nip it in the bud. The fairytale dreams of finding an alpha and settling down will never come to pass.

He’s known that since he chose this path, and now he needs to live with the consequences.

As reality sets in and helps get his pheromones under control, Louis decides to splash some cold water on his face before retreating from the loo. The pub has emptied even more as closing time approaches, and Louis decides that he doesn’t need more alcohol tonight. He’s had enough.

He feels the alpha’s eyes on him when he returns to his stool for just long enough to pull enough cash out of his wallet to cover his drinks. As he places the bills on the counter of the bar, he doesn’t dare look at Harry.

Louis sighs, just now noticing how the alcohol is hitting him, his vision blurred and the room unsteady. His gait lacks the grace that it normally does, but he works his way past the tables slowly until he reaches the door. Louis can still feel eyes burning into his back, but he just hunches over, shoves his hands into his pockets, and pulls up the faux fur hood, hiding himself just as any omega walking the streets of London at this time of night would. When he exits the pub, the butterfly chime that Harry has hung up on the door sounds.

Louis walks about ten meters from the pub before he hears the chime again, but he doesn’t bother turning around. He already knows that the alpha just poked his head out the door to make sure he’s safe. It’s not the first time that Harry has done this, but it’s what any kind bartender and pub owner would do when an omega regular leaves all alone.

It doesn’t mean anything, and even if it did, there's no reason to think about it. Louis pulls his jacket in tighter around him to guard against the cold wind swirling around him.

Just four blocks and he’ll be home.

\--

Louis drags himself out of bed before noon on Saturday. He’s quite proud of himself for that, considering how late he was up the night while Facetiming Phoebe so that he could talk her through a boy problem. It wasn’t necessarily how he wanted to spend his Friday night, but her tears were replaced by a smile by the end of the conversation, so it worked out in the end.

Lottie and Fizzy tend to respond to their little sisters’ problems from a different perspective because of their alpha status, so Louis’ twin sisters often turn to him for advice instead. He remembers all too well what it was like to be an omega teenager with your first crush when everyone had presented, your likely life trajectory had been determined, you were suddenly overwhelmed by scents all around you, and you felt the strong desire to find an alpha. 

Back then, Louis used to dream about being with the alphas in his school, though he didn’t end up doing anything with one until university. He pictured himself settling down with one of the tall and handsome ones, buying a house in a small village in Yorkshire with vines growing up the outer walls, a big garden, and multiple fireplaces. He imagined working in a career that interested him, but he also imagined having babies and kissing his alpha every night when he returned home from work.

Louis moved to London for uni a few years later and dated numerous alphas, though none that he felt serious about. He wasn’t quite ready to settle down, instead opting to enjoy his time at school and pursue a career. Though Louis wanted a family and kids, it wasn’t all that he wanted from his life, and he knew that education was an opportunity for more.

Louis was a firm believer that even if he was an omega, he could have a full life and would never have to pick and choose between working and having a big family. He could have both.

Louis had so many dreams of a future, but then his mother got sick. After that, it was like dominoes falling, one after another. Within weeks, Louis had dropped out of uni, sub-letted his part of the flat he shared with another omega at his university, and moved home to help care for his siblings. Within months, his mother had passed away and his retired grandparents in their small cottage were left with four underage children to care for. 

Louis knew he needed to help his grandparents provide for his sisters, but he also knew that had no chance of finding a well-paying job with no university degree and no time to enjoy the lengthy courting process that a wealthy alpha would require for Louis to become his mate. 

One of Louis’ childhood friends, a beta named Oli, was still living in London while he finished his degree. He offered to let Louis sleep on his couch while he looked for jobs in the city, but it didn’t take Louis long to realize that the chances of that were slim. Most of the jobs that were willing to take an omega without a degree — restaurants and reception jobs, especially — did not pay well enough for Louis to even afford a flat in London, let alone to make enough additional money to send back to his grandparents to help clothe and feed his sisters.

It was a couple of weeks of sleepless nights and Internet research before Louis came to the decision that he needed to go in a different direction. On a warm Friday night in the dead heat of summer, Louis told Oli he was meeting up with a friend and not to wait up. What he actually did was catch a taxi to a well-known street corner in an area of the city that he wouldn’t normally be caught dead in even during the daytime, and certainly not at night. 

Even as Louis watched his dreams and the life he’d planned for himself crumble into pieces in his hands, he was willing to do what he had to do. It was in his nature as an omega to do whatever it takes to care for his family, whether it be his children or his siblings, and if this was what was required, he would do it.

When the first car stopped and an alpha with a crooked smile asked him the price for a night, licking his chomps and leering, Louis realized that he had no idea what the answer to that question should be. He stuttered out something about how he wasn’t interested and got a few sexist insults thrown at him (“fucking useless whore, nobody wants your wet arse anyway”) before the alpha had driven away. 

Though Louis knew that the interaction had ended in the opposite way of how he intended, he couldn’t help the sense of relief he felt at not having to leave with that man. 

That’s when Louis’ dark knight appeared. When Louis recalls this story when he and Zayn are drunk and giggling on Louis’ sofa at 4 AM, Zayn always rolls his eyes when he says that, but Louis isn’t exaggerating. Zayn had shown up on that street corner when Louis’ needed him and provided Louis with the opportunity for something else.

“You look lost,” the omega had said then, and when Louis startled and turned around, he saw a handsome omega with dark hair, tattoos, and a leather jacket. 

It was rare that he’d seen an omega with such confidence, and Louis could only stare silently as the omega looked Louis up and down skeptically.

Louis had looked away before responding. “No,” he had said. “I’m meant to be here.” 

Zayn had given him a sympathetic smile. “You need money,” he had said, and it wasn’t a question.

Louis had nodded and swallowed hard, glancing at the cars driving by them.

“I get it,” Zayn had said. “And there’s nothing wrong with sex work, as long as it's your choice, but you need to be aware of what you’re getting yourself into if you’re going to be safe. And no offense, but after watching your reaction to that alpha, I’m not sure that you are. Y’know, there are other ways...”

Louis remembers shaking his head forcefully. As nice as this omega seemed, he didn’t need someone giving him empty promises. Louis was done with that. 

“Trust me, I’ve tried,” he had said. Zayn didn’t understand that he’d been trying for weeks, only to be told over and over that he wasn’t the right fit, or to be promised a salary that was not enough for what Louis needed. At this point, he had no other options, and if selling himself on the street would get him the money that he needed to support his family, he was willing to do it.

He might not know exactly how this all worked yet, but he would figure it out. 

Zayn didn’t say anything for a minute, instead opting to light a cigarette and stand next to Louis as he awkwardly hovered on the street corner, watching the cars pass them by.

“If you’re serious about making money, I know somebody who can help,” Zayn had said finally. He pulled a wrinkled tissue out of his pocket and a pen from behind his ear and jotted down a phone number. “Call if you’re serious,” he had said, handing it to Louis. “And only then.” 

Then he walked away.

Louis didn’t sleep with anyone for money that night, but it took him two days to muster up the energy to call the phone number Zayn had given him. Sometimes, Louis thinks that was the worst decision he ever made, but he also has no idea where he’d be — where his family would be — right now if he hadn’t.

Now, five years after that night, Louis leaves for James' warehouse around 1:30 PM. 

Technically, the warehouse is an office building with a small warehouse attached to the back, though Louis never goes back himself. He just shows up to the office space to meet with James and sometimes Jeff, and occasionally to attend meetings with general updates about the business, though those are few and far between.

Louis tries to minimize his time at the warehouse when he can, as he prefers to know as little about James’ business as possible. The fact that Louis is so detached from much of what goes on here is one of the only reasons he still sleeps at night.

Of course, James prefers it this way too. The fewer people that know the extent of his criminal activity, the better, so he or Jeff always provide Louis with the least amount of information possible for him to get the job done efficiently and without exposing himself or James.

James hates it when he’s late, but also hates it when he’s early, so Louis tries to arrive precisely on time if he can. He doesn’t time it quite right today, so rather than face James’ wrath, he chooses to linger by the nearest bus stop, out of sight of any of James’ goons who might be coming and going from the parking lot beside the warehouse.

When it’s time for his meeting, he makes his way over, texts Jeff that he needs to be let in, and waits at the metal door in the front for whatever low-level lackey will be sent to fetch him. 

Russell, a beta who Louis knows is somehow involved with James’ prostitutes, is the person who opens the door for him eventually. He doesn’t bother greeting Louis and just yanks the door open, waiting for Louis to shuffle past before slamming it closed behind him.

“James wants to see you in his office,” the beta grumbles before stomping off and leaving Louis by himself. Louis sighs and shrugs out of his jacket, draping it over his arm and steeling himself before making his way down the hall until he reaches the large corner office that belongs to James, the mastermind behind this criminal organization.

Louis double checks his phone for the time, and since he’s within two minutes of their meeting time, he knocks twice.

“Come in,” James demands from inside the office, and Louis obliges.

Despite the illegality of his business, James’ office looks much like any other. There’s a single window that overlooks the back parking lot, a wooden desk, and two filing cabinets pushed up against a wall. On the bulletin board that hangs over one of them, there's a calendar and a few flyers about auto parts, which is what James pretends to sell. 

There are a few marked differences from a typical office, however, though most people aren’t paying enough attention to notice. There are no stacks of paper or writing utensils on the desk, nor is there a computer, since James would never be foolish enough to have anything that would be easy for the police to seize if there was ever a raid. While there are computers in the building, there are none that can be traced back to James directly. 

Instead, the desk is largely empty, and that’s because it’s all for show. The vast majority of James’ work is done in the warehouse and through hushed conversations with the thugs that he uses to do his dirty work, whether it be receiving drug shipments, doing the drug trades, or dealing with the omegas prostitutes that James has under his thumb.

Still, the facade of legitimate work is there, and Louis plays his part as well.

“Good afternoon,” Louis says formally as he walks in, hands hidden beneath his sweater sleeves. 

“Ah, Louis,” James says from his desk chair, where he sits with a jovial smile on his face. “It’s so nice to see your beautiful face, as always. You look very nice today.” 

Louis gives a smile that he hopes looks less like a grimace than it feels. He glances down at his outfit, which is just a pair of tight jeans and a camel-colored sweater. He looks nice enough for a casual Saturday, but something about James complimenting Louis always gives him the creeps. Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that everything James does gives him the creeps.

James gestures to the small chair across from his desk.

“I have a job for you,” he says when Louis sits.

Louis nods and nervously adjusts his fringe. That much was obvious.

“Of course, sir,” he says, but before James has a chance to explain, the door behind Louis opens. Louis startles at the unexpected noise, and when he turns, he sees Jeff walking into the room. He offers Louis only a nod in greeting and then stands silently near the door, arms crossed across his chest. Louis tries not to flinch.

James looks at Jeff before he speaks, and something like alarm bells are ringing in Louis’ head. He’s not quite sure why, but the energy of the room feels off. Louis wonders if they’re about to have him do a hit on somebody particularly important. Generally, Louis’ victims are fairly low-level — people who have crossed James, for one reason or another, competitors who are becoming a little too successful at taking business away from James, and occasionally former associates who James wants to be taken out. He wonders if this one is different.

“We want you to eliminate a man named Liam Payne,” James says, reaching forward and handing Louis a post-it with the name and an address scribbled on it. “He’s a new arrival in the drug business in this city and he’s been causing some problems for me.”

Louis glances down at the name and address and nods, pocketing it. This doesn’t sound like anybody important at all, but Louis decides to ask some basic questions to make sure.

“Okay,” he says. “Anything else I should know about him? And is there a particular time that you need this done by?” It sounds a bit ridiculous to talk about hits as though they're upcoming job interviews or something, but it is what it is. While James usually provides that most basic information without prompting, if he’s not going to offer it up, Louis isn’t afraid to ask.

James exchanges another look with Jeff, and Louis has to pinch his own thigh to stop himself from glancing back at the alpha and trying to figure out why they’re acting so strangely.

“No background related to violence that I know of,” James says, giving Louis a serene smile. “I’m not sure that he even knows how to use a gun. As for a time frame, well…”

“As soon as possible,” Jeff pipes up from behind Louis. Louis looks back at him and nods.

“Sure,” he says. “I’ll do a bit of research and get it done within the week, unless something comes up on his end that would make that timeline impossible. I’ll let you know when it’s done.” 

James nods and leans his heavy frame back in his chair. 

“Thank you, Louis,” he says, smiling again. “I’ll transfer £12,000 when it’s done.” 

Louis nods. That’s an average fee for James, and it’s the perfect last payment for Louis’ services before he walks away from this. Now he just has to mention that little fact to James.

“Thank you,” Louis says carefully. “But before I go, I wanted to give you some advance notice about something, if you don’t mind.” He knows he needs to tread carefully here.

James looks at Jeff again before replying.

“Sure,” he says slowly, prompting Louis to go on.

“I’ve decided to get out of the business,” Louis rushes the words out quickly. “I am so appreciative of you and everything you’ve done for me. You provided me with an opportunity when I had none and helped me to provide for myself ever since,” he says. He doesn’t mention his sisters because as far as James is aware, Louis’ family is all dead. 

James’ eyebrows shoot up to his hairline, but he doesn’t say anything right away. 

“I’ve decided I’m probably going to leave the city and get a fresh start elsewhere,” Louis says. He decided last night that minimal information was probably the best bet, particularly since he doesn’t actually want James to know what he plans to do after this — even if Louis doesn’t fully know himself yet — and he suspects that that’s the right call. As much as James might pretend to care about Louis, the omega knows that he’s just a tool in James’ toolbox.

James leans forward and puts his thick arms on the desk. Louis gets a strong whiff of the alpha as he does, and he tries again not to wince. He always wears scent-neutralizers when going to the warehouse, mainly because aside from himself, Zayn, and the prostitutes, James only has alphas and betas on staff, and Louis doesn’t want any of them to have any reason to get near him. It’s times like these that he wishes these alphas would wear scent-neutralizers too. 

“Of course, Louis,” James says calmly, giving yet another glance back at Jeff. Even though James does not seem to object to what he just said, Louis feels uncomfortable. “You’re getting older and I’m sure you want to find an alpha and start a family at some point soon.” 

Inexplicably, Louis thinks of a bartender with large hands and green eyes. 

Just as he begins to shake that ridiculous thought away, he hears a snicker behind him. When he turns, he sees Jeff laughing, clearly amused by the prospect of Louis and any alpha settling down. Louis sets his jaw and reminds himself not to cry. Jeff isn’t worth that.

“Yes, I’m sure the alphas are lining up for the chance with an omega who sleeps with a Glock under his pillow,” Jeff says snidely, and Louis turns to face forward again.

James looks like he’s suppressing a smile at Jeff’s words, but he holds a hand to silence him.

“Now, now,” he says, and though James doesn’t sound genuine, Jeff still quiets down at his boss’ words. “We all wish you luck on your next adventure, Louis. Your work for me has been appreciated and we’ll all miss you.”

Based on the lack of respect that Louis receives from everyone here, Louis doubts that, but it’s fine. Louis doesn’t care about James’s vague niceties at this point. All he can think about is getting home, showering the smell of these vile alphas off him, and burrowing himself in his nest while he does some research on how to take out Liam Payne as soon as possible. 

“Thank you, sir,” Louis says with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

He doesn’t acknowledge Jeff when he walks out of James’ office, and he has to remind himself to walk at a regular speed out of the building to avoid drawing attention to himself. Louis tries his best to blend in whenever he’s here, and though he wants to get out of this building as soon as possible, he’s not going to tempt fate when he’s so close to being free of this criminal organization forever.

“Just one more to go,” he whispers to himself as he puts his jacket back on.

One more to go.

\--

Louis should probably focus on research for his job, but when Zayn texts him that they should meet up that night, he can’t resist. He hasn’t seen his best friend in far too long, both of their schedules never seeming to line up right, and he misses him more than anything.

He suggests to Zayn that they grab dinner, but when the omega says that he wants to go somewhere and drink, Louis knows that The Temptress is their best bet.

After his last experience with leaking slick at the pub, it’s probably not the best idea for Louis to go there again, but he shrugs off his concerns because he’ll have a friend there this time. Zayn tends to call Louis out when he’s embarrassing himself, and when it comes to interacting with an alpha that Louis is attracted to, that insight can be invaluable. 

Louis eats a bowl of cocoa puffs for dinner before he goes. He’s tired, despite doing nothing more than clean his flat after he arrived home from his meeting. The exhaustion seems to be bone-deep for Louis these days, and he can feel stress knotting the muscles in his shoulders and neck. Every hit seems to add weight to his shoulders that drags him down further, and Louis can only hope that once this last job is finished, some of that weight will finally be lifted.

Louis’ hair doesn’t want to cooperate and there’s nothing in his closet that he wants to wear, so Louis stands in front of his closet in nothing but his underwear as he rummages through his pitifully small wardrobe for something that looks nice.

 _It’s only Zayn_ , Louis reminds himself as he finally chooses a pair of black jeans with rips in both the knees, a white t-shirt, and a black bomber jacket. _And Harry_ , a disloyal voice in the back of his brain whispers, but Louis shuts that down quickly. Exhaustion and the promise of freedom are clearly driving him mad, and this obsession with Harry is becoming embarrassing.

Louis arrives a few minutes late and finds Zayn already at the bar, sipping something that looks fruity and delicious. Despite feeling like he could curl up on the floor in the fetal position and fall asleep at any point, Louis can’t help the huge smile that spreads across his face at the sight of his best friend.

“Z,” Louis says as Zayn jumps off the stool to hug him. “Missed you.” 

“You look like shit, babe,” Zayn says. “But I missed you too. Are you okay?”

There’s concern in his voice as he pulls back from the hug. Louis can’t help his glance over toward Harry, who is standing just a few feet away, wiping a puddle of beer from in front of someone’s stool. He looks focused on his task, but when his eyes meet Louis’, he can tell that the alpha is listening to his and Zayn’s exchange.

Louis breaks the eye contact and gives Zayn a smile that he hopes looks half-genuine. 

“Of course,” he says. “Just tired.” 

Zayn looks skeptical, but he doesn’t push it. Instead, he gestures to the stool next to him and sits back down. “One for my friend, please,” he requests. Harry nods.

While Louis’ drink is being made, he listens to Zayn rant about the knothead who refused to tip him at work the day before. Zayn may be an omega, but he’s a force to be reckoned with, and Louis pities the poor bastard who probably got his knot ripped off by the end of the interaction.

Zayn is just finishing up the story when Harry slides a red drink toward him, and Louis can’t help but smile when he sees the little umbrella stuck in it. 

“Thank you,” he says to Harry, and Harry nods. He’s looking at Louis with an intense expression that Louis can’t place, having never seen it before. Harry has looked at him with sympathy and with arrogance and with a hint of attraction, but he’s never looked like this. Louis can’t help but frown, and his frown deepens when Harry fails to respond beyond a jerk of his head.

Harry walks away to tend to other customers, and Louis refocuses his attention on Zayn.

“Trouble in paradise?” Zayn says, taking a long sip from his straw. He looks between Louis and Harry, who is now standing quite far away from them. Louis feels his cheeks heat up.

“No idea what you mean,” he says before taking a loud slurp.

Zayn just hums with amusement. “Well, there can’t be that much trouble,” he says, smirking.

Louis sets his drink back down on the bar and frowns. 

“What're you talking about?” He asks, and glances over at Harry. He finds Harry looking right back at him, but when their eyes meet, the alpha immediately turns his attention elsewhere. He looks caught out, and Louis can’t help but frown again.

“I didn’t get an umbrella,” Zayn says with a laugh. Louis looks down at his umbrella and then looks at Zayn’s drink, which is already half gone. The only thing in his drink is a straw.

He’s not wrong, but Louis rolls his eyes dismissively anyway. 

“Let’s move on to a topic that’s not ridiculous,” Louis says, and Zayn glares at him in the same way he always does when Louis shuts down the possibility of any alpha being genuinely interested in him. 

Zayn rolls his eyes right back at Louis. It’s a good reminder that Zayn has just as much sass loaded up as Louis does, and he should always proceed with caution. 

“The only thing that’s ridiculous is you,” Zayn says. “And the fact that you’ve convinced yourself that no alpha could ever want you when the proof that that’s not true is right in front of our face. Not only here,” he adds, glancing over at Harry. “But anywhere you go.” 

Louis shakes his head and takes another sip of his drink. 

“You know it’s not like that,” he says. “This isn’t about insecurities. It’s about what I do for a living — what I’ve been doing for a living for five years. It's about the fact that no alpha would ever stick around once he found that out.” 

Louis and Zayn have this same conversation every other month, and much like everything else Louis is tired of lately, he's tired of having to repeat himself on this topic. Every time Zayn tries to give him hope for a future with love and babies and all those other happy things, something in Louis’ heart clenches. It’s an ache of hope that Louis doesn’t want to be there when, ultimately, he knows that it’s only ever going to break his heart.

While Zayn can tell Louis has reached the end of his rope, he speaks anyway. “I have Gigi and a beautiful baby girl at home,” he says, but his voice is soft and understanding. “There’s no reason that you can’t have a family too.” 

Gigi and Zayn have been together since they were teenagers, years before Zayn met James and got into the business, and the decisions they’ve made for their family's financial stability were made together. It’s not the same for Louis, not even close, but he doesn’t bother pointing that out. Zayn isn’t going to listen to him anyway. 

Louis sighs and rubs a hand over his face. He regrets even coming out tonight.

Zayn recognizes that he’s pushed one too many buttons, so he reaches out and squeezes Louis’ knee. “I’m sorry,” he says honestly, and Louis gives him a small smile.

“It’s fine,” he replies. “But I guess this is as good of a time as ever to tell you that I quit.” 

He makes the mistake of saying it when Zayn is mid-sip, and Zayn chokes on his drink and spits it out on the counter, causing a big enough scene that several people in the pub stop what they’re doing and stare. Louis blushes and frantically reaches for the napkin beneath his drink so he can use it to mop up the liquid. 

He barely has a chance to start before a larger hand covers his, halting the motion. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Harry says, and Louis shivers. He can smell the vanilla and musk of the alpha’s scent, and not for the first time, Louis gets the urge to crawl over the counter, jump into the alpha’s arms, and bury his face in his neck so he can get a better whiff.

When Louis’ brain catches up enough to realize that there is still someone else present, he sees that Zayn is looking down at their hands with raised eyebrows. Harry notices too, and he immediately removes his hand before beginning to clean the counter with a rag.

“Anyway,” Zayn says slowly, and Louis feels his stomach twist at the implications in his voice. “I might be mistaken, but I think before I spit my drink everywhere, you said that you—”

The omega cuts himself off upon realizing that Harry is still right there and probably shouldn’t hear anything that relates to his or Louis’ work, even if it something as minor as Louis quitting.

Louis allows himself to smile and nods at Zayn proudly.

“Yes,” Louis confirms. “I broke the news to him today.” When he chances a look at Harry, he’s no longer wiping down the counter. He’s looking at Louis with an odd expression again. It makes Louis’ stomach squirm a little, but he’s not sure why.

When Harry walks away to continue his work for the night, Louis breaks his gaze away.

“Just one more job and I’m out,” he tells Zayn. The omega claps him on the back and his face lights up with excitement. He knows how long Louis has been thinking about doing this, and he also knows how much Louis has needed it, especially lately. 

“That’s amazing, Lou,” Zayn says, leaning over to give Louis another hug. 

It doesn't really feel real yet, and Louis knows it probably won’t until the job is done and James’s final payment to him has been submitted, but there’s still an undercurrent of excitement flowing through Louis’ veins. It’s a big change from the dread and horrifying guilt that Louis feels before most jobs, and it’s a welcome one.

“Thanks, babe,” Louis says. He pushes his glass into Zayn’s nearly empty one and clinks in a toast, which Zayn returns happily.

Out of the corner of his eye, he can feel someone watching him, and he doesn’t have to look over to know who it is.

He looks anyway. By the time his eyes fall on the alpha, he’s no longer looking at Louis. Instead, Harry looks deep in thought as he taps his fingers on the counter behind the bar. Lizzo, the other bartender on staff tonight and one of Harry's close friends, keeps glancing back at him and rolling her eyes when she notices that he’s not helping her keep up with the weekend rush.

Louis takes the last few sips of his drink and tries to stay focused on his conversation with Zayn as it moves on to stories about baby Amira and her first steps. There is nothing that makes Louis coo more than children, so he can’t keep the smile on his face as Zayn talks.

When Louis and Zayn are ready for their next drinks, Louis waves to Harry to try to get his attention, but Harry just mutters something to Lizzo. She comes bustling over a minute later with an infectious smile that Louis and Zayn can’t help but return.

“What can I get you both?” She asks, and Louis allows Zayn to order for him again. 

It’s a ridiculous thought, but Louis can’t help but feel like he’s done something to make Harry want to avoid him. _Maybe it’s the fact that you get wet every time he so much as looks at you_ , Louis reminds himself, and his heart sinks at the thought.

As Louis enjoys a night of gossip and laughter with Zayn, Harry doesn’t come to their side of the bar again. The alpha eventually disappears into the back room and doesn't return, though Louis doesn't stop looking for him until he and Zayn leave around 1 AM. Zayn walks Louis home and catches a taxi home to his wife and baby.

Despite a pleasant evening and freedom on the horizon, Louis falls asleep feeling disappointed.

\--

If it were under any other circumstances, Louis would probably enjoy the research aspect of his job. While Louis tends to be shy when he’s not with friends and other people he knows well, he enjoys people. His fascination with psychology means that he’s always been interested in knowing what makes people tick, and that interest comes in handy when it comes to his job.

As it is, however, the research can be nearly as emotionally crippling as carrying out the hits themselves. Louis doesn’t have the benefit of brute strength, and though he’s learned his way around a weapon in the past five years, a lot of what he relies on is simply good timing, good research, and the ability to make himself look innocent.

He’s petite, even for a male omega, and he enjoys dressing in large and comfortable clothing that makes him look even smaller than he is. Louis loves sweaters and hoodies, he’s always cold and dressed in layers, and his hair always looks soft. You would never pass him on the street and expect that he’d shoot you in the head, and that’s part of the beauty of it.

It’s not always enough to be an omega and seem unthreatening, however, and that’s where the research aspect comes in. Louis always spends a few days or weeks looking into his victim to determine their frequent hangout spots, what their social habits are, and where and when the best time to strike is. Though there have been plenty of close calls over the years for Louis in this line of work, he knows there would be many more if not for his research process.

This time, Louis begins by looking into Liam’s social media and finds that he’s active on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, embarrassingly enough, though there has been near radio silence from him on those platforms in the past two weeks. The social media accounts are not particularly helpful for Louis beyond giving Louis a good idea of what he looks like and informing him that Liam is currently between jobs, so he decides to start with the address that James provided instead.

Liam lives in a large building not far from Louis', so he decides it’s time to take a walk. It’s easy for Louis to bypass the passcode required to enter the building — he just bats his eyelashes at an alpha headed inside and waits for the man to steps aside and hold the door open for him. Louis gives him a flirtatious smile and a small, giggly "thank you" in return as he passes through.

There’s a desk in the lobby with an elderly woman behind it, and Louis approaches it with a calm confidence that suggests he knows exactly what he’s doing here, even if he really, really doesn’t.

“Hi, love,” Louis says sweetly, leaning on the counter in front of the desk.

The woman gives him a warm smile. “What can I do for you, darling?” She asks.

“I’m actually looking for my friend’s flat and he’s not answering his phone,” Louis says with a pout. “Would you be able to look it up for me? I don’t want to wait down here in the lobby by myself.” Louis gives a nervous glance around at the alphas milling about, an Oscar-worthy performance as usual. 

“Of course,” the woman says with an understanding smile. She’s an omega herself, so Louis is not surprised that she bought his story. When he tells her Liam's name, she makes a few clicks on the keyboard before looking at him through her spectacles. “He’s in flat 438,” she says. 

Louis smiles and thanks her profusely before turning around and walking toward the set of elevators in the back of the lobby. When he reaches the fourth floor and walks out of the elevators, he immediately rules out this building as the place where the hit can take place. He suspected that it would be impossible just based on how nice the lobby was, especially considering there's a woman behind the desk and a security guard by the door, but the hallway with Liam’s flat just further confirms it. The building is nice and has a lot of small flats that are all pressed closely together, one door next to another all the way down the hall. There’s no way Louis would be able to get away with killing Liam in his flat or in this hallway, not when there are so many people around.

Now that he’s ruled out that possibility, Louis decides it’s time to scope out the building and wait for Liam to leave. Sadly, that means an early start for Louis the following day. He rolls out of his nest and dresses in sweatpants and an oversized hoodie, hair sleep-rumpled and pillow creases still on his cheek, and exits his flat around 7 AM.

Louis brings a book with him and sits at a bench almost directly across the street from Liam’s building so he can pretend to read while he waits. 

It feels like half of London exits Liam’s building in the first two hours while Louis sits there, everyone except the target himself, Louis is tempted to just give up for the day and go home — or at least go get a donut from a bakery nearby because he’s starving and forgot to bring a snack. Finally, however, Louis sees the doors to the building open and Liam step out. He looks a bit messier than most of his social media photos would suggest, particularly because of the mustache he seems to be growing out, but Louis still recognizes him rather easily.

He slams his book closed and watches as Liam takes a left on the sidewalk outside of his building. He waits at a crosswalk for the light to change, and Louis takes the opportunity to run across the street between passing cars, his book clutched in his hand. 

After that, the pursuit is easy. Louis follows from about 20 meters behind as he moves through what seems to be errands, as Liam stops by a pharmacy and the grocery store. When Liam is in the grocery store, Louis decides to pick up a few groceries himself, and that allows him to linger closer to Liam than he ever could on the street without arousing suspicion. 

At one point, Liam receives a call, and Louis pauses while examining apples for bruises.

“8?” Liam asks, and Louis’ ears pick up as he tries to listen to Liam’s conversation. “I go to the gym around then most nights. Would you be able to do 7 instead?”

 _Bingo_ , Louis thinks as he places two of the apples in his basket.

It’s far easier for Louis to carry out hits at night than it is during the daytime, but it can sometimes be difficult for Louis to figure out what people are up to at night. Many targets have no pattern to their days after work hours, so it’s a lot of guesswork about what they might do and when. The fact that Liam just revealed what he does most nights at 8 PM sets Louis up for success.

He's able to follow Liam to the gym the following night, and when he does, he’s pleasantly surprised to see that it’s just a block or so over from The Temptress. Louis’ familiarity with this area makes this hit even more likely to go smoothly, and Louis is grateful for that. The last thing he needs is to face unnecessary challenges on his last ever job.

Soon after Liam leaves the gym, he takes a shortcut through an alley, and Louis can hardly believe how easy Liam is making this for him. Alleys in this part of the city tend to lack two things that pose the greatest threat to Louis’ success — people and security cameras.

Upon making that discovery, Louis’ knows the steps to carry out this job are clear. He’ll wait until Liam leaves the gym, enter the alley behind him, fire one shot with a silencer, and it’ll all be over.

In and out, just like that.

\--

On the day he’s planned for the hit to go down, Louis wakes up tired and distracted. He has a pounding headache and his limbs ache, a sure sign that his heat will be coming in the next week or so. 

The impending heat also means that his touch deprivation is wearing on him even more than usual. He hasn’t been touched since he saw Zayn, and an omega’s touch never has the same effect as an alpha’s touch anyway. His body is begging him for relief, but there’s nothing he can do.

Louis grumbles to himself as he rolls out of bed and blinks wearily at his dimly lit flat. It’s already early afternoon, Louis already having slept most of the day away, and he decides to binge-watch a new mystery show on Netflix instead of doing anything productive until he has to leave.

When Louis plans to carry out a hit, he always tries to avoid doing anything mentally or physically taxing. Even if the job takes him five minutes, it wipes Louis out for the week, and in the hours leading up to it, he generally spends his time doing something mindless and distracting. Shows like this are generally up the task.

Not long before the time when Liam generally goes to the gym, Louis starts getting ready. His outfit for these types of things is always the same — black sneakers with a good grip on them, black jeans, a black hoodie, and a dark beanie that he can use to hide his hair. In the winter, Louis also wears a scarf, so he puts one on now. Lastly, Louis places his gun in his pocket, triple-checking to make sure that the safety is on.

Louis stares at himself in the mirror before he leaves. He looks at the reflection of a 25-year-old omega that he barely recognizes — pretty, but tired and worn down, with a near-permanent frown these days. If you’d asked him when he was 15 who he would be in ten years, Louis never would’ve said this.

He sighs and flicks the light off.

\--

Louis keeps his head down and his neck tucked in as he walks to the gym. He knows he probably smells vaguely of an upcoming heat if someone gets close enough, and he'd rather not spend the night dodging alphas who want to stick their knots in him instead of getting this job over with.

He passes The Temptress on his walk and carefully avoids looking inside as he does. He still feels weird about his last two interactions with Harry, and while it's enough for him to dread the next time he has to go to the pub, it's not enough for him to find a new place to have drinks when he's feeling desperate for human contact.

When Louis is about two buildings over from Liam’s gym, he stops and leans against a dirty brick wall. He messes around on his phone and makes it look like he’s waiting for someone, occasionally yawning and checking his watch for good measure.

He considers waiting for Liam in the alley and pretending to be on the phone as he approaches, but he decides it’s a better idea to just follow and sneak up on him as he originally planned. 

Though it’s not always the best option, Louis prefers that to any other method because it often ensures Louis doesn’t have to fight anyone.

James provided training to Louis when he first started on the job, including both basic defense and target practice, as Louis had never even touched a gun previously. Louis is nimble enough that he’s often able to dodge what’s coming to him and use his gun to put a stop to any fight, but it’s always in the back of his mind that if it comes to a battle of pure strength, James' training won't matter. He will always lose.

When he sneaks up on people, however, that’s a different story. Louis is light on his feet and graceful, and as long as he keeps his neck covered or tucked in, hiding his scent until the last minute, if he doesn’t want someone to know he’s behind them, they won’t. 

Louis doesn’t have to wait long before he sees Liam walk out the door of the gym. He looks sweaty even from meters away, and Louis grimaces. Liam might be a handsome man and roughly Louis’ age, but he’s not the omega’s type.

When Liam turns into the alley, Louis follows. He allows Liam to walk rather far ahead of Louis for a minute, but then he speeds up, taking care to tread lightly so that Liam can’t hear his footsteps.

Louis holds his breath in the last few seconds before he approaches Liam, pulling his gun out of his pocket. He glances around one more time to make sure that the coast is clear before switching the safety off and exhaling.

One shot to the back of the head and it’s over. 

Louis exhales, finger resting on the trigger. The only sound in the alley is Liam’s footsteps, but just as Louis goes to fire, the footsteps stop abruptly.

Before Louis can even understand what’s happening, Liam spins on his heels and is on the omega in seconds, immediately wrestling with him for the weapon. It fires off once and ricochets off the stone of a nearby building, and Louis flinches at the sound, even if it's somewhat muffled by the silencer.

He doesn’t have time to flinch again. Liam is much stronger than Louis and he seems determined, and with each twist of Louis’ arm out of his grip, there’s another in its place.

Louis cries out in pain and tries to shove his knee up and into the alpha’s balls, which makes Liam grunt and double over for a moment. He seems to be fully aware that his life is at risk, however, so he dismisses his pain quickly and continues trying to get the gun away from Louis.

He knew Louis was coming. Louis isn’t sure how or why, but Liam is not surprised that somebody came up behind him in the alley, and he also doesn’t seem surprised that he’s trying to wrestle a gun away from someone right now.

Louis thought this would be a quick and easy job, but now he’s fighting for his life with an alpha who knows the stakes. One who, despite clearly not having experience with fighting or guns, has enough strength that it doesn’t matter much. Louis is in over his head right now and he knows it.

Liam twists the barrel of the gun so that it's facing Louis, and the omega feels his eyes widening. No, no, no. This can’t be happening right now. 

“Hey!” A deep voice yells out, and it sounds familiar, but Louis' brain is too focused on more pressing matters to place it. The surprise of someone interrupting them is enough that Liam’s grip on Louis' gun lessens just slightly. Louis starts to push the barrel away from his body, trying to turn it back on Liam instead, but it’s already too late. The gun fires.

Louis looks into Liam’s eyes as it does, and he sees the man’s brown eyes widen in shock and horror. Louis hears the rush of footsteps behind him, but he can’t bring himself to turn around. 

Instead, he watches as Liam turns, wide-eyed and terrified, and runs in the opposite direction. Louis wants to chase after him and finish the job, but his legs feel like jelly, impossible to move. He blinks slowly and his eyelids feel heavier than usual.

“Lou,” the voice says, and Louis feels someone touch his shoulder. He turns his head to face whoever interrupted that mess and saved his life.

It’s Harry, but somewhere in the back of his brain, Louis already knew this. Louis can see that the alpha's face is flushed from the cold and he's out of breath. He has on a long black coat on and his hair looks messy like he’s been running his hands through it all day.

He also looks scared, and Louis' never seen him look like that before. 

“Hi,” Louis says breathlessly. His heart is hammering in his chest and he blinks slowly at Harry. “What’re you — why are you here?” Louis asks, but his voice sounds very far away.

Harry says something in response, but Louis can’t understand what it is. His head hurts and he feels so tired, but now there’s a very distracting pain radiating from his side. 

Harry is touching Louis frantically, which is rather inappropriate for an alpha to do without asking permission, but Louis can’t find the words to ask him to stop. He just stands there helplessly as Harry pats his arms and chest first, and then he moves down to Louis’ sides.

“‘m ticklish,” Louis says with a giggle. Harry ignores him and touches his sides anyway, apparently less amused by the situation than Louis. When he pulls his hand back, it’s red.

Louis frowns, but he doesn’t have time to think through what that means before his vision goes black.

\--

Waking up from an omega drop is more similar to waking up from a coma than it is to waking up from a long night's sleep. It’s heavier and less instantaneous, so Louis can hear what’s going on for a while before he comes out of the drop fully and realizes what just happened to him.

He knows that someone carries him for a while, though he has no idea where to or where from. He knows that there’s a sharp throbbing pain radiating out of his side, though he’s not sure how it got there or what it means. Inexplicably, he also knows that he’s safe.

When Louis comes out of the drop completely, he’s lying on a sofa and someone is pressing a towel to his left side. Louis gives himself a few minutes to take in the scents in the room and register what happened before he fully opens his eyes and admits he’s awake.

It doesn’t take him long to realize that he was carried somewhere by Harry, and only slightly more time to conclude that the somewhere he was carried is Harry's flat. Or at least, it smells that way. Harry is still here scenting Louis, keeping him in a state of calm that Louis knows he would not be in otherwise, considering he has a bullet wound.

Ah, yes. He just got shot. A bullet hit his body, and the stress and pain brought him into a drop.

When Louis opens his eyes to the dim lights of a living room, he sees Harry’s frown just inches away from his face. Louis blinks tiredly and glances around, taking in the gray sofa beneath him, the tall bookcases filled with books and records, and a large television mounted on the wall. It’s a nice flat, homey but well cared for, and after years of knowing Harry and not even learning what his last name is, Louis cannot believe that he's now in the alpha’s home.

“You’re okay, Louis,” Harry says. 

Louis sees the bandages and gauze sitting on the floor beside Harry, who is kneeling beside the sofa as he cares for Louis’ wound. Though it hurts, Louis can tell that it’s not life-threatening. Even just a few minutes of scenting is making him feel much better, and he knows Harry would have taken him to the hospital if he was at serious risk.

“Okay,” he says simply. He watches as Harry uses a cotton round to apply alcohol to his wound and bites his lip at the sting. Louis finally glances down and sees the gash on his flank, which is still bleeding rather heavily. Louis lays his head back down and tries not to look. Despite his line of work, Louis is a bit squeamish when it comes to these kinds of things.

Harry continues working and Louis waits as he opens one of the bandages and applies it carefully, his large hands moving as gently as possible on Louis’ skin. He continues scenting Louis the entire time, and it makes Louis feel as though he’s on a cloud, even with throbbing pain coming from his side.

“Just a graze,” Harry says by way of explanation, and Louis nods. That makes sense.

After a few minutes, Louis feels Harry maneuver him to sit up. He goes willingly, feeling a bit more ragdoll than human, and he doesn’t protest when Harry pulls his hoodie and t-shirt up over his head. Both are stained with blood.

And just like that, Louis is sitting shirtless in Harry’s flat, the bartender with whom he’d never done more than talk to before tonight. Goosebumps break out over his skin and he shivers, but Harry is already standing and walking through a door on the opposite wall. He returns a minute or so later with an oversized worn jumper that looks like it could fit two of Louis. 

“C’mon, sweet omega,” Harry says as he encourages Louis to lift his arms, pushes the jumper over his head, and helps redirect Louis’ arms into the armholes. “You’re going to be okay." As he speaks, Louis realizes that his voice is part of what is keeping Louis feeling so calm.

Louis doesn’t say anything, but he watches Harry leave the room again and return one more time with a glass of water and a bottle of pills. He takes out two and hands them to Louis, prompting him to take them. Louis should probably ask what they are and verify it himself, but Harry’s already saved him from an alley brawl that would have surely ended in his death, carried him back to his flat, and treated a graze from a bullet. Louis doubts he’d go through all that effort of saving him just to kill him through poison now. 

He swallows the pill and allows Harry to gently lay him back down. His eyes are starting to droop, the pain in his side lessening, and by the time Harry drapes a heavy wool blanket over his body, he’s already half gone. Thankfully, it’s not a drop this time, not with how safe, warm, and protected Harry has made him feel despite his injury. All he does is fall into a heavy sleep.

\--

Louis sleeps through the night and then some, only stirring around lunchtime the following day. When he does, it takes him a few minutes to register the events of the previous night, everything from the fight in the alley to the drop.

Louis winces when he finally sits up. When he checks under the jumper he’s wearing, he sees that very little blood has soaked through the bandage, and he knows that’s a good sign.

He hears a noise coming from what he assumes must be the kitchen, and Louis gets up to find out who’s causing it. Unsurprisingly, it’s his knight in shining armor from the night before.

Harry is shirtless and wearing nothing but a pair of old sweatpants slung low on his hips, and Louis tries not to look at the trail of hair leading beneath the fabric. He has a knife in his hand and is spreading peanut butter on a piece of whole-grain bread as he hums to himself.

His nostrils flare and he looks up, taking sight of Louis standing there awkwardly.

“Good afternoon, Louis,” Harry says gently. “I was just making myself some lunch. Are you a fan of peanut butter and jam?” 

Louis nods and sits down at one of the bar stools without waiting for an invitation.

When Harry finishes preparing the sandwich, he slides Louis’ plate over to him, but he doesn’t join him at the bar area of his kitchen. Instead, he just stands on the other side of the counter, much like he always does at the pub, and eats his sandwich standing. 

“Did you sleep okay?” Harry asks in between bites. 

Louis chews and swallows before answering. “Yes, I did, thank you,” Louis says. He’s not sure quite where to begin to thank somebody for saving his life, but he supposes that’s a start.

“I would’ve put you in my bed where it’s more comfortable, but I didn’t want you to — well, I didn’t want you to wake up and panic, thinking that something had happened without your consent, so I figured the sofa was a better bet.”

Louis smiles. “I wouldn’t have thought anything like that,” he says. “But I appreciate that you thought of it. I was fine on the sofa and feel okay for the most part. My side is a little sore, but that’s about it. You did a good job cleaning me up.”

Harry looks content at that response, but he keeps looking at Louis as he eats. 

Eventually, the silence stretches on for long enough that Louis feels like he has to say something. He has to explain himself to this poor pub owner who probably has no idea what he stumbled into in that alleyway, and who now has a criminal in his kitchen eating a sandwich. 

“I guess you’re probably wondering what happened,” Louis begins awkwardly.

Harry smirks slightly. “Well, yes,” he says. “You’re correct in that assumption.” 

Louis rolls his eyes and sighs. He knows that what he should do is lie and say that it was an attempted robbery, or that he was walking home and was assaulted, but for some reason, Louis doesn’t want to do that. He just wants to tell Harry the truth and see how he reacts.

This is quite possibly the worst decision Louis’ ever made, which is saying something after his botched hit last night, but Louis doesn’t feel like he has much less to lose at this point. Liam is probably out there searching for Louis to finish the job of killing him, the ultimate reverse uno card, and Louis doesn’t even know how to defend himself against something like that.

“I was trying to do a job last night,” Louis says. He pauses as he tries to think of how to explain this.

Harry holds one finger up, halting Louis entirely, and leaves the room quickly. He returns a few seconds later with Louis’ gun in his hand. 

“A job that involved this,” he says as he places the weapon on the counter. Louis flinches involuntarily before he notices that the safety is on. He knows it wasn’t him that did that, and that means that Harry knows a thing or two about guns.

Louis just stares at it for a moment before looking up at Harry. “Yes,” he whispers. 

Harry just looks at him, and he doesn’t look surprised, or disgusted, or angry, or any of the reactions that one would expect from what he knows so far, even before Louis explains any further. Louis frowns.

“I’m a hitman,” he says, testing the waters. He’s not sure what he’s trying to prompt — some kind of a rational human reaction, he supposes, but he still doesn’t receive one. 

“I figured,” Harry says, shrugging. He doesn’t make any move to take the gun, and he also doesn’t pull his phone out of his pocket to call the police. 

Louis is baffled.

“I’m an omega hitman,” Louis repeats the sentence with an additional word, wondering if maybe that will trigger Harry into action. 

Still nothing, aside from another smirk, which Louis is becoming increasingly irritated with. 

“Yes, I did figure out that you're an omega,” Harry says, laughing slightly. 

Louis huffs and throws his hands up. He gives up on expecting any kind of normalcy from this alpha. Apparently, Harry doesn’t care even the slightest bit that a murderer is eating his bread and peanut butter right now.

“Why aren’t you surprised by this?” Louis asks, baffled. 

Harry’s smirk drops, and he adopts a very serious expression.

“I knew you were into something,” he explains. “I could just tell from our brief interactions at the pub. You’ve always been covered in bruises and cuts, looking tired and worn down, and you seem both very aware of your surroundings and very jumpy at the same time, which is an odd combination. I considered the possibility of you being in a bad relationship, but you never smelled like an alpha.” 

Louis feels his face heat up, feeling caught out. Harry doesn't sound like he's judging him though.

“I didn’t know for sure what it was, but it’s not like I don’t know what goes down in this part of town. It seems like most people are caught up in something illegal — drugs, weapons, sex.” Harry pauses and looks down at the gun sitting on the counter between them. “And if you’re wondering why I wasn’t surprised when you said hitman, well....that’s because I was one too.”

Louis’ eyes widen and he leans forward in his seat, propping his arms on the counter.

“You’re kidding,” he says, unable and unwilling to believe it. Harry, the pub owner and bartender that Louis has been unable to keep his eyes off of for two years, all the while feeling like he leads a double life that no alpha could ever respect, once did the exact same thing? It's different as an alpha, of course, but still. It seems impossible to even consider.

Harry shakes his head and Louis realizes he’s dead serious. 

“Nope,” he says. “I retired a couple of years ago and started the pub because I was tired of always trying to stay one step ahead of the police — and tired of the constant lying and hiding things — but I used to do hits for a living too. I was one of the best, but that doesn't really matter in the end. You can only do that for so long. You either get out, or you get killed.” 

As Louis looks at Harry and admires the lean muscle of his arms and chest, the sharp cut of his jaw, and the confidence and calm demeanor that he exudes, he realizes that despite his initial surprise at Harry having had been a hitman in the past, now that he's aware of that fact, he's not at all surprised to hear that Harry was one of the best. Louis remembers all the times that he’s watched Harry throw drunk alphas out on their arses without hesitation and the way he quietly observes the patrons at the pub, and all of that makes sense now. 

“Yeah,” Louis agrees, acknowledging the last part of Harry’s sentence. “I actually — well, this was supposed to be my last hit. I wanted to leave, start a new life just like you did. This is my first hit that went this badly, and now I need to figure out how to finish the job before the target comes back and kills me himself.” Even saying the words out loud makes Louis feel nauseous.

“Can’t you just quit and walk away without bothering?” Harry asks as he takes Louis’ empty plate and loads it into the dishwasher. 

Louis shakes his head. “I don’t think James would let me do that,” he says. “He’s a pretty tough criminal, has a lot of power in the drug world, and has his own prostitution ring, I think. Based on the hits that I’ve carried out in the past, he’s also not a big fan of people walking away from him. And now that I’ve tried and failed to kill that target, I imagine he’ll be looking for me soon too. Unless I'm able to finish the job.” 

Louis sighs and puts his head in his hands. This is a big mess and he has no idea how to get out of it. 

“How’d you get into this in the first place?” Harry asks, and Louis sighs again, lifting his head.

“My mum died a while back,” he explains. “My four sisters were all pretty young then, and my grandparents took them in, but they couldn’t afford everything they’d need. I moved to London to find a job and quickly figured out that it’s not as easy as it looks.” 

Harry nods sympathetically at that. 

“I thought maybe I should sleep with people for money, but I didn’t have the guts,” Louis says, and he sees Harry clench a fist by his side. “And then I met my friend Zayn, who was working as an omega hitman for James already. He introduced us, and the rest is history.” 

Harry nods, but he looks like he’s lost in thought.

“I think you’re the first omega hitman that I’ve seen,” he says finally, and Louis laughs.

“Yeah, we’re not exactly what you’d call common,” he says. “That’s the point, I think. When I first met him, I remember James saying to me that omegas were the perfect criminals because you never see them coming. And he was right. It’s easy for me to look innocent, or to flirt with alphas until they start thinking with their knots instead of their heads. It’s easy for me to sneak up on people because they don’t pay attention until it’s too late.”

Louis shrugs as his mind runs through all of the hits that he’s carried out over the past five years, all more or less successful, until the one he tried to pull off yesterday. 

When he looks back at Harry, the alpha is looking at him thoughtfully. 

“I’ll help you,” Harry says then. “If you want, that is. I’ll help you take care of Liam.”

“Why?” Louis asks, unable to believe that the alpha in front of him is real. He gets that Harry might have a background in crime, but he has no real incentive to help Louis out, especially after he went above and beyond by saving Louis’ life last night when he could’ve just walked away and pretended he didn’t see a thing.

“You didn't get into this for the money or the drugs. You got into it to help your family," Harry says simply. "And besides, I’m a firm believer in second chances. I got one when I opened my pub, and who knows — maybe I’ll need another one day. You deserve one too.”

Louis looks down at his hands and thinks about how grateful he is to be alive and sitting here with someone like Harry right now. Somebody who is willing to help for no reason other than because he thinks Louis does this job for a noble reason, and because he thinks Louis deserves a chance to start over.

“A second chance sounds great,” he says with a lump in his throat.

\--

Louis and Harry spend the rest of the afternoon chatting and learning all the things about each other that they never learned through two years of small talk and longing gazes (on Louis' part, at least) over a bar countertop. 

Louis tells Harry about his sisters and his mum. He tells him about the dreams he used to have of settling down. He tells him about his interest in psychology and inability to drive, despite getting his license years back. He tells him about Zayn and their friendship, something that Harry only knows a little about from the times that Zayn showed up at the pub with Louis.

In return, Harry tells Louis about his parents and sister. He tells him about starting the pub and why he bought it in the first place. He tells him about how he stumbled into being a hitman when he got in with the wrong crowd and dropped out of uni. He tells him about his interest in boxing and organic wines. He tells him about his best friends, Lizzo, who Louis knows as one of the bartenders at The Temptress, and an Irishman named Niall.

It’s so strange for Louis to just be able to sit there and talk to someone for hours. While Louis hangs out with Zayn as frequently as he can, the omega is too busy with his family and two jobs to do something like this these days. And Louis’ sisters are young and too caught up in their own lives and drama to care much about what’s happening with Louis. Louis can’t remember the last time there was somebody who just wanted to sit there and learn about him.

Through their conversations, Louis comes to realize that beyond just being attractive, Harry is sweet, protective, loving, and generous. He’s also cocky and has terrible taste in fashion, as he points out to Harry when he sees the man’s closet, but everyone has a few flaws.

By the end of the afternoon, they're talking like they’ve been best friends for years, but Louis can’t deny the undercurrent of sexual tension that he feels flickering in the air between them. It’s probably just the fact that they’re an alpha and omega pairing that are both fully enveloped in each others’ scents and currently sharing a flat, which is bound to confuse their bodies. Or at least, that’s what Louis tells himself. 

They eat dinner on the sofa while watching a movie, and Louis is sprawled out with his feet in Harry’s lap. Louis would normally never be so bold as to do that with an alpha that he wasn’t courting, let alone one that he barely knows, even if they did spend the day talking about their lives, but Harry’s the one who tugged his feet into his lap in the first place, and Louis isn’t about to complain. 

“I think I need to go to Liam’s,” Louis says during a quiet moment of the film. 

Harry looks over at Louis with disbelief and pinches one of his feet, which makes Louis squeal.

“You’re fucking with me,” Harry says. 

Louis shakes his head. He’s really, really not.

“Liam knows he was just attacked,” Harry says slowly, as if he’s talking to a child. “He’s never going to go back to his flat for the same reason that you’re not going back to yours right now. He has no idea if it’s safe.”

Louis rolls his eyes and stabs one of his toes into Harry’s thigh. 

“I’m not an idiot, thanks,” he says. “I know Liam won’t be there, but that’s why I want to go. Maybe we’ll be able to figure out what his deal is or where he’s hiding out.” 

Harry shakes his head and turns back to the TV.

“You just got shot,” he says dismissively. “You’re not going anywhere.” 

A part of Louis is aroused by Harry telling him what to do, but a larger part of him is irritated.

“It’s a graze,” Louis says through gritted teeth, but Harry just squeezes his foot again and continues watching the film like nothing happened. 

_Alright then_ , Louis thinks. _I’ll do it myself._ **  
**

\--

Harry tries to insist that Louis take the bed that night, but Louis refuses. The truth is that he actually really wants to sleep in Harry’s bed, partially because it looks big and comfortable, and partially because Louis knows that it’s probably the place in his flat that smells most strongly of him, but he has big plans for tonight and he knows Harry sleeping on the sofa will ruin those plans.

Those plans, of course, are for Louis to sneak out of Harry’s flat and break into Liam’s.

Around 9 PM, Louis starts yawning obviously, and it doesn’t take Harry long to take the hint. He brings Louis a pair of sweatpants that shrunk in the dryer and a clean jumper for him to sleep in, safely assuming that Louis’ jeans from last night stopped being comfortable about 15 hours ago. He also provides Louis with a toothbrush and toothpaste, which he sets out on the bathroom counter for Louis to use when he's ready.

Louis settles down onto the sofa under the blanket once he’s dressed and washed up, trying to make it look like he’s going to sleep. He tells Harry good night, but Harry just gives him a suspicious look before retreating to his bedroom.

Louis waits another hour or so until Harry’s bedroom light turns off, and then he gathers both of his phones and his gun, puts on his shoes, and slips out of the door to Harry’s flat. 

Louis only makes it to the bottom of the stairs before he realizes that he’s already winded, the wound in his side throbbing. It’s possible that Harry was right about him not being ready to leave the flat because of his bullet wound, but it’s now or never. Louis needs to get to Liam’s flat before he has the chance to send someone to clean it out for him, and this is his best chance.

Louis walks slowly, one hand pressed to his side in the hopes that it will lessen the pain, and he’s only made it about half a block before he hears something behind him. He turns around, heart pounding. As he does, a million terrifying thoughts pop through his head in rapid succession, including James and Jeff cornering him, Liam cornering him, Liam's faceless parents cornering him...the possibilities are endless for how Louis might die right now.

“Hello there,” Harry says. He’s standing there still fully dressed, though he now has a coat on. It immediately becomes clear to Louis that the alpha never actually went to bed, and in fact was just waiting for Louis to sneak out so he could follow him. 

Louis considers apologizing, but he decides against it. Instead, he grabs Harry’s arm and leans against him for support. “well, since you’re here, you can help me,” he says dismissively, and Harry laughs.

“You know, I hate to say 'I told you so,'” Harry says. 

“Then don’t,” Louis replies darkly. Harry just laughs again, but he happily supports Louis as they walk.

They luck out when they arrive at Liam’s building, as someone exits out the front doors a few minutes after they arrive, allowing them to push their way in through the open door. Louis whispers Liam’s flat number to Harry as they offer a kind smile and wave to the young man watching over the desk in the lobby. He doesn't glance twice at them, looking like your average couple. Louis' heart pounds at the thought. 

They take the elevator up to the fourth floor and quickly find flat 438. It’s hard to believe that Louis was just here doing research about a week ago, and in the time since then, Louis tried to kill Liam, Liam tried to kill Louis, and now they’re both on the run. 

“Wait, how are we getting the door open?” Harry whispers, glancing around the hallway to make sure that nobody is coming in either direction. Louis pulls a credit card out of his wallet and waves it in front of Harry’s face before making quick work of the lock.

“I figured that was just a trick from the movies,” Harry admits.

Louis smiles as the lock clicks. “It doesn’t work for all locks, but it works for cheap ones,” Louis explains, pushing the door open.

Just like that, they’re in.

Liam’s flat is as small as Louis anticipated based on how many flat doors line the hallway. It’s just a studio with a bed and living room sharing the same space, plus a small kitchenette with a miniature-sized oven and stovetop. 

They don't waste time, knowing that at any moment, someone who knows Liam or Liam himself could bust in. Louis starts in the kitchen, opening and closing cabinet drawers to try and find anything that looks like it might be a clue as to what Liam is up to and where he might run if he were in trouble. Harry starts in the bedroom area, and Louis can see him lifting Liam’s mattress and checking beneath his bed. 

They don’t find much from their search. People don’t keep address books these days, so without Liam’s phone, they aren’t able to find any names, addresses, or phone numbers that might suggest who he knows in the area. They also don’t find anything that might indicate what Liam does for work, or what he might have done in the past. Even the alpha’s medicine cabinet is clean of everything except the most basic medications, like aspirin and some allergy pills.

“This is a man who leads a boring life,” Harry says, and when Louis glances over at him, he's holding up an unopened bottle of lube and a full pack of condoms that look like they could still be on a shelf in a shop. Louis claps his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud, not wanting to draw any attention from neighbors in case they’re aware that Liam is not currently staying here. Harry grins.

They’re just about to give up and call it a night when Louis sees a piece of paper at the top of Liam’s trash. He’s not generally one to go garbage picking, but he can make an exception this time. He pulls the flyer out and sets it down on the counter, gesturing for Harry to come over and look at it too. 

It’s a promo flyer for Kiwi Club, a small strip club that Louis has heard of a couple of times. Louis and Harry look at each other with matching frowns.

“Do you think this could be where he pushes his drugs?” Harry asks curiously. “If it is, that might be where he’s hanging out. A lot of those clubs have offices in the back for drug lords or pimps or whoever else is doing business out of there.” 

Louis shrugs. “It’s the best guess we have right now. I don’t know much about selling drugs, but I do know that the clubs in London get a lot of action on that front. We might as well check it out and see if we can learn anything new.” 

Harry pulls his phone out of his pocket and takes a photo of the flyer before returning it to the trash as Louis checks around the room to make sure that they haven’t noticeably disturbed anything. 

When they leave a few minutes later, Harry helps support Louis, the omega leaning into his side. However, he quickly realizes that there’s a lump in Harry’s pocket that wasn’t there before.

“Is that a bottle of lube that you just stole from that man’s flat, or are you just happy to see me?” Louis deadpans, and Harry barks out a laugh that is so loud it echos down the street.

He shrugs and pulls the lube and condoms out of his pocket. 

“It’s not like he was using them,” Harry says with a wink. “Don't worry, I won’t make the same mistake.” 

He wiggles his eyebrows at Louis suggestively and wraps his arm around Louis’ shoulder, pulling him in close again so he can help support Louis’ weight. He also starts to whistle as they walk, and they’re almost back to Harry’s flat by the time Louis realizes that he’s whistling Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On.

Louis just hopes that it’s dark enough for Harry to not see him blush.

**\--**

“So I was thinking,” Harry says a couple of days later, and Louis opens one eye in response. “We should build you a nest.” 

Louis’ other eye shoots open in surprise. 

“What?” He asks, confused as to whether Harry really just said what he thought he said. 

Harry pulls Louis up from the sofa and drags him to the bedroom with one hand, gesturing toward his closet. Louis' graze feels much better now, just the slightest bit of pain when he moves wrong, so he goes willingly. “You mentioned last night that you missed your nest,” Harry says, referencing a grumpy comment that Louis had made last night before bed. “If you’re going to be staying here for a while, why not make a new one?” 

Louis has never in his life seen an alpha make an offer like this to an omega that he’s not courting or even hooking up with. In fact, Louis has heard of plenty of bonded alphas who don't even care about their omegas’ nests. Sometimes, he has a hard time believing that Harry is real.

“Where can I make it?” He asks hopefully. “I don’t want to take up your entire sofa.” 

Harry looks thoughtful. “So take up my bed instead. I don’t mind,” he says, glancing around his bedroom. “I wanted you to sleep in here over the sofa anyway, and my mind hasn’t changed, even if you've refused so far. This is the perfect opportunity to replace my scent in here with yours.” 

Louis bites his lip. “That’s actually,” he begins, but he immediately cuts himself off. 

Harry is already in his closet and pulling some of his softest sweaters and hoodies off the hangers, leaving them in a pile on the floor. Louis feels warm. 

“What?” Harry asks when Louis doesn’t finish his sentence.

Louis stands there in his sweater paws and bare feet and takes a deep breath. “I like your scent,” he says quietly. “And I don’t mind your scent being in my nest.” 

Louis knows there’s a lot more to that statement than is on the surface, considering most omegas only want their scent and their alpha’s scent in their nest. Harry seems to realize this too, if the look of surprise on his face is anything to go by, but he recovers quickly. 

“Okay,” he says simply, and returns to his task of pulling soft clothing out of his closet. It reminds Louis a lot of how Harry acted with him in the pub, always just accepting what Louis wanted under most circumstances without pushing back or judging. “You can also pull some blankets from the linen closet, and anything else you can find,” Harry tells Louis, and Louis doesn’t wait around to watch Harry continue destroying his closet. He begins making his way through Harry’s flat excitedly, collecting anything soft that he knows he’d enjoy snuggling with in his nest.

It only takes about half an hour for Louis and Harry to gather the supplies for the nest, and when they’re finished, there’s a pile of blankets, sweaters, hoodies, and pillows piled in the center of Harry’s bedroom. There’s even a stuffed animal or two that Harry’s niece left behind last time they visited, and those are sitting at the top of the pile. 

Louis spends the next couple of hours arranging the nest carefully. It’s a delicate art, and one that he takes very seriously. It’s important to have the correct balance of textures in a nest, and it’s even more important to have the correct balance of scents. 

Harry doesn’t interfere with that part of the process. Instead, he just sits in the small armchair he has in the corner of his bedroom and watches. Louis doesn’t look over at him often, but every time he does, there’s a soft smile on Harry’s face as he watches Louis work.

When Louis is finally satisfied, he wiggles his way out of the nest and stands back. He’s a little sweaty, a little tired, and a little sore from the exertion, but he couldn’t be more pleased with his work. His nest looks like a soft little bungalow sitting atop Harry’s bed, and it smells even better.

“It looks perfect,” Harry says once he gets to his feet, pulling Louis in for a hug and kissing his forehead. Louis lets his eyes fall closed at the feeling.

“Thank you,” he says. “Would you like to join me in it?” 

It sounds like a pickup line, and though Louis would like that very much, he doesn’t intend it to. He genuinely just wants Harry to see his nest and experience the same feeling of safety and comfort that Louis feels inside it. It may not be conventional to allow an alpha that isn’t yours into your nest, but Harry helped build it, and that's not conventional either. Letting him enjoy it too is the least Louis can do.

“Okay,” Harry says, and he allows Louis to tug him toward his bed. He stands back to allow Louis to enter the nest first, but Louis gives him a little nudge until he takes the hint.

Harry crawls onto the bed and nestles himself in between a few pillows and blankets, and Louis climbs in after him. When Harry spreads his legs, Louis crawls between them, settling with his back against Harry’s chest and snuggling in.

“Let’s nap,” Louis says, his eyes already drifting closed. He knows that he said his last nest was the best nest he’d ever made, but after the events of today, he has to revise that statement. 

This nest, the one with Harry and Louis’ scents mixed together and Harry lying here beside Louis? This is by far the best nest Louis has ever made.

**\--**

On the day they decide to check out Kiwi Club, Louis requests that Harry run out and find him an outfit to wear. He can't just show up at a strip club in Harry's old clothes and he also can't go out himself on such a silly errand in case he runs into Liam and gets shot again, so he's counting on Harry.

Harry comes home with a small bag later that day that contains a pair of skintight jeans and a pink cropped tank top. Louis stares at the clothing in shock, and when he glances at Harry, the alpha gives him a sheepish smile. "Does this work?" He asks.

Louis rolls his eyes. He wouldn't normally be caught dead in a crop top, not when he'd always prefer to be in long sleeves and oversized clothing, but he's playing a role tonight, just as he so often does when he's trying to get a job done. He can do this and it will be fine.

"It's suitable," Louis sniffs, and Harry grins.

Louis spends more time getting ready that night than he has in years, taking care to ensure that his hair looks perfect and using some makeup that Harry's sister left here on her last visit to extend his eyelashes and add a bit of glitter to his cheekbones. He doesn't want anyone in that club to suspect that he's there for any reason other than to get laid, and honestly, with Harry around, Louis isn't opposed to that. 

When he's dressed and fully styled, he walks out of Harry's bathroom. Harry's seated on the bed, and his mouth gapes open as soon as he sees Louis.

"You look great," he says when he finally figures out how to close it again. Louis smirks, unable to resist how confident he feels in this outfit.

The alpha is wearing a black polka dot button-down, black jeans, and black boots, and though Louis can't see it, he knows Harry also has a gun stashed away. That's not a possibility for Louis, not with this outfit, but he knows he can count on Harry to protect him.

"So do you," he says after giving him a once-over. When eyes lift to meet Harry's, the alpha is staring at him with dark eyes.

Harry clenches his jaw and swallows hard.

"Let's go," he says, draping his coat over Louis' shoulders and guiding Louis out of his flat with a hand low on his back.

\--

Louis hasn't been to a club in a few years, not since before Zayn got together with Gigi and had Amira, but he forgot how fucking loud it is. He can barely hear himself think with the bass thumping, and it makes him anxious about the possibility of bullets flying in a place like this, but he tries to dismiss his fears. They're going to be in and out as soon as they get the information they need, and it will be fine.

After they've made it through the line and the bouncer allows them to enter, Harry leans down to shout-whisper in Louis' ear.

"If anything goes down tonight, look out for my signal, okay?" he asks. "If I scratch my chin, no matter what you're doing, no matter where you are in the room, you duck, okay? We're not getting another bullet hole in you anytime soon, or ever, actually," Harry says. The commanding tone of his voice makes goosebumps break out on his skin. Louis nods, but he can't help the slightest bit of slick that leaks out at that. Harry groans and drops his head onto Louis' shoulder from behind. "You're really going to be the death of me tonight, aren't you?"

"No idea what you mean, alpha," Louis says as he makes his way through the club, hips swaying side to side.

He knows Harry is following him because he can smell his arousal, and Louis leads Harry straight to the dance floor. He's playing a role tonight, trying to blend into the scenery, but he's also going to take every advantage that he can.

Harry looks slightly confused as to what they're doing here, but Louis knows enough about this club to know that this is the best viewpoint in the place.

"Just trust me," he says to Harry as he turns around and pushes his arse into Harry's crotch, swaying to the music.

"Uh," Harry says, but Louis doesn't care that he's playing dumb because he can feel that the alpha is hard.

"Do you see anybody who looks like they might be pushing drugs out of here?" Louis asks. He grabs Harry's hand and puts it on his hip, holding it there as they continue to dance. "I think I've seen Calvin here before, but I don't know if he was selling anything for James. If this is Liam's territory, probably not."

Harry doesn't respond, but when Louis looks over his shoulder, he can see that he's scanning the room.

"I don't see anyone," Harry says, but the last part comes out as a grunt as Louis grinds back particularly hard. "Wait," he says, pointing toward one of the dancers who just stepped down from the platform after her dance. "Strippers always know everything. We should talk to her."

Louis takes a step, intending to go talk to the stripper, but Harry holds him place for a moment. Louis realizes that Harry's adjusting himself behind Louis' back, using him as a shield to prevent anyone else in the club from seeing, and Louis has to suppress a laugh at that.

When Harry is satisfied with his situation down below, he and Louis walk over to the stripper, who is now wiping herself down with a towel and chatting with one of the waitresses. They walk as casually as they can, trying not to draw attention to themselves.

"Hey," Harry says when they reach her. She turns to him and immediately gives him a once-over, turning on her omega charm.

"Well, hi there, sexy," she says, but Louis just rolls his eyes and shoves his way between them.

"We're looking for some information on a man who we think might work here," Louis says, turning back and glaring at Harry. Harry gives him an alarmed look back and throws his hands up in a gesture of innocence.

"Alright," she says slowly, eyes flicking between them as if she's trying to figure out what their deal is. _You're not the only one_ , Louis thinks.

"There are only a few men that work here, the owner and some bartenders, but I know them all. What's his name?" She asks.

"Liam Payne," Louis says, searching for a flicker of recognition in her eyes.

The woman just continues looking confused for a moment, clearly deep in thought, but then her eyes widen. "Wait," she says. "I know that last name. I don't know Liam, but his sister works here! Her name is Ruth and she's mentioned him before. He's overprotective and a bit of a stick in the mud, from what she says. They're really close though."

Louis and Harry exchange glances. A stick in the mud doesn't sound like somebody who deals drugs.

"It's so sad what happened to Ruth," she continues, and Louis frowns.

"What do you mean?" He asks. He really hopes that doesn't mean what he thinks it means.

"She overdosed a couple of weeks ago," the woman says. "They have a family friend who called to let us know that she wouldn't be in for a while. She survived, but barely, from what the woman said. She's still in the hospital, I think, and I doubt her job will be waiting for her when she gets out, so that sucks," the woman shrugs. She glances over at a clock on the wall and then turns back to Louis and Harry.

"Listen, I've got to go," she says. "Sorry that I can't be more helpful, but I'd maybe try and talk to that woman who called."

"Wait," Louis says, reaching out and grabbing her arm gently before she turns away. "What was the woman's name?"

The stripper looks thoughtful as she tries to remember. "Perrie," she says finally. "And the last name was similar to a boy's name, but it was plural. Andrews? No...Edwards! It was Perrie Edwards."

It's not the information that Louis and Harry were looking for, but it's another piece of the puzzle. They're making progress.

When he turns back to Harry, he can tell that the alpha is impatient to leave now that they know they aren't likely to find any other information about Liam here. It's clear that Harry's scene is more of his pub than this club, and Louis respects that. The blaring speakers have nothing on the comfortable silence of Harry's flat that Louis' gotten to experience over the past few days, so he's happy to head back too.

Harry leans down toward Louis.

"I'm getting a headache and my cock is hard," Harry says through gritted teeth, and Louis glances down at the alpha's crotch to confirm that yes, that's true. "So let's please get out of here before I shoot up this place and cause even bigger problems than we already have."

With that, Harry grabs Louis' hand and starts dragging the omega toward the door, taking care not to be forceful enough that he might upset Louis' still healing injury.

The bass might be loud, but Louis knows Harry can hear his laugh over it.

\-- 

Louis knows it’s a bad idea before he does it, but he also knows that he has to try every avenue to get answers about the situation that he’s found himself in. For his sake, for Harry’s sake, and maybe even for Liam’s sake.

So he calls Jeff. Jeff fails to answer, as usual, and the call goes to voicemail. Louis leaves a short message informing Jeff that it’s Louis and that he’d like him to call back as soon as he can.

Harry and Louis pass the time while they wait for Jeff to return the call by doing a puzzle that Harry digs out of a basket in the back of his closet. It’s been so long since Louis has done something so simple and human as a puzzle, and they laugh and drink wine as they work.

Louis is working on filling in an edge piece when he hears the obnoxious ringtone of his burner phone. Harry and Louis just look at each other for a second before Louis scrambles to get up and grab the phone off the coffee table.

“Hey, Jeff,” Louis says when he answers.

“What is it?” Jeff replies. He sounds irritated to even be talking to Louis at all, so Louis makes it quick.

“Sure, sorry,” Louis says quickly, making eye contact with Harry. “I’ve been having trouble with research on Liam and I’d like to get this job done as soon as possible because I know it’s a high priority. I just had a few questions for you.” 

There’s silence on the other line, but finally, Jeff says, “go on.” 

“James mentioned that Liam’s a competitor, right? Do you know where he works out of — where he sells his product? He’s been tricky to follow and I haven’t seen him go anywhere other than errands, the gym, and his flat.”

Another pause. 

“He doesn’t do much of the work in person,” Jeff says finally. “He’s wealthy and hands-off, for the most part, and instead has a lot of people running the day-to-day business for him.”

Louis makes a face at Harry after that non-answer, part of which Louis knows is a lie. No wealthy man lives in a studio flat in London, even if the building itself is pretty nice. “Okay,” he says. “And...is there anything else you could tell me that might make it easier to track him down? I’m not sure why he seems so evasive, but my typical surveillance doesn’t seem to be giving me the answers I need.”

This time, the silence stretches on to the point where Louis begins to feel very uncomfortable. He feels himself start to sweat.

“Your job is to eliminate a target, not ask questions,” Jeff says finally, his words biting. Louis can’t help but flinch at the alpha’s words, and Harry comes up and touches his elbow gently. He looks like he’s holding himself back from scenting Louis, and the omega really wishes he wouldn’t. He could use some comfort right now. “Don’t call again unless the job is done.”

With that, the line cuts off.

Louis can’t help the churn of worry in his belly that he pushed too far and made Jeff suspicious enough that he might mention it to James. After double-checking to make sure that he's hung up, Louis presses his phone against his chest and exhales.

“I think I might’ve just fucked everything up,” he says.

Harry hesitates for a moment, looking like he wants to say something, but doesn't know what, and then he just pulls Louis into his arms. Louis buries his face in Harry’s chest and allows himself to breathe in the alpha’s scent as they hug.

“It’ll be fine,” Harry reassures him. He pulls back from and grips Louis’ shoulders tightly, looking at Louis with an intense gaze. “Trust me, okay? It’ll be okay.” 

Louis sighs and lets himself be pulled in toward Harry again.

He hopes Harry’s right.

\--

Louis and Harry debate for a few hours whether or not they should make an attempt to talk to Perrie Edwards, the woman who the stripper at the club mentioned, but ultimately, they decide that it’s their best chance of figuring out what Liam is.

It only takes a few minutes of research to figure out that Perrie is 26 years old, works as a nurse at the London Bridge Hospital, and lives about ten blocks south of Harry’s flat. 

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Harry asks as they put their coats on. Louis has been feeling off all day, with aches all down his body, dark bags under his eyes despite sleeping about 12 hours the following night, and a slight fever. Despite that, Louis knows that he has to be there when this interrogation happens.

Louis shrugs off Harry’s concerned glances and tries to ignore the fact that the alpha is very obviously sniffing him, likely trying to determine how sick he is. Harry offers to get them a taxi, but Louis feels too hot and bothered to be cooped up in such a small space with another random person that he doesn't know, so he suggests they walk instead. 

When they reach Perrie’s building, they press a bunch of random buttons until someone buzzes them in mindlessly, and from there, it’s very easy to find their way to Perrie’s flat. Once outside her door, Harry knocks three times and they wait with bated breath.

They can hear the sliding feet of a dog reach the door first from inside, and Louis smiles to himself at that. A few seconds later, human footsteps are followed by the door opening. 

Louis smiles at the omega woman standing in front of them. She’s blonde, pretty, and wearing scrubs, and Louis can see that she's stuck her foot in the doorway to stop a small poofy white dog from escaping into the hallway. Though she's still in her work clothing, Louis suspects based on the exhausted look on her face that she’s just returned home from work rather than being about to head to it.

“Can I help you?” She asks, frowning at their presence. 

“Actually, we were hoping you might be able to,” Louis says. He’s more grateful than ever that he didn’t allow Harry to come here alone, considering Perrie would likely not have any interest in speaking to a random alpha who showed up at her door. “My name is Louis and this is my friend Harry. We’re actually here because we have a few questions about Liam Payne, and one of his sister’s co-workers told us that you might be the right person to ask.” 

Perrie frowns and looks for a moment like she might slam the door on their faces, but then she thinks better of it. She looks Louis and Harry up and down as if trying to gauge how dangerous they might be, but after looking at Louis again, she must decide they don't pose much of a threat to her. All she does is sigh and gesture them into the flat behind her. 

She leads them down a short hall, and once they reach the small living room, she sighs again. 

“You can sit down, I guess,” she says, pointing toward the armchairs. Louis and Harry accept the invitation and both sit down, though Louis feels very uncomfortable doing so. He has the strange urge to sit on Harry's lap instead, but he doesn't want to make Harry or Perrie uncomfortable.

As soon as they’re settled, Perrie speaks again. “Do you — do you know where he is?” 

Louis and Harry exchange a glance. 

“That’s actually why we’re here,” Harry explains. “We don’t know where he is, but we do know that he’s in trouble, and we want to try to figure out why that is.”

“We want to help him, if we can,” Louis adds, and Perrie looks hopeful.

“Okay,” Perrie says. “What would you like to know?”

“We have a few questions,” Louis says. “First, do you know where Liam is?”

Perrie shakes her head and sits down on a chaise lounge she has near the armchairs. “I haven’t seen him in weeks,” she says. “Though to be fair, I wouldn’t tell two strangers where he was even if I did know.” She gives them another once over, and Louis can’t blame her for that. “He did call me though, a couple of weeks ago.”

Louis leans forward, intrigued. He’s not sure if Perrie has information that will help them figure out what the hell Liam Payne did to motivate James to have him killed, but he feels like this is one of their last options to figure it out.

“What did he call you about?” Louis asks. 

Perrie looks uncertain for a second, as though she’s considering whether she should answer, but whatever expression she sees on Louis’ face makes her trust him enough to keep talking.

“He called to tell me that his sister had overdosed,” she says. “Ruth has dabbled in drugs recreationally for a while, but it was never anything serious. She took things at parties sometimes, slept it off, and moved on with her life. That’s why I was so surprised when Liam told me that she was headed to the hospital and that it was really serious.”

Louis looks at Harry again before returning his gaze to Perrie as she continues explaining.

“She was headed to the hospital, and he was on his way there, but he asked me to check her in under an alias. I was so fucking confused about why, but I rushed over to the hospital to do that. I’ve known Liam and Ruth since we were all babies together, and though we’re not as close now, I’d do anything for them if they asked.”

Perrie looks down at her hands. “When I got there, I found out that Ruth had taken some heroin. Or at least, that's what she thought. It turned out that someone had mixed it with fentanyl. That’s why she overdosed.”

When Louis looks at Harry’s face this time, his face is lit up with recognition. As someone who has never done anything beyond weed in his life, however, Louis has no idea what that means.

“Sorry,” Louis says. “But can you explain what that means?” 

Perrie nods. “Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid analgesic, and it’s very powerful and very addictive. In the past few months at our hospital at least, we’ve been getting a lot of overdose cases that are all the same. The people — or at least, the ones who survive — they all say they were using heroin in an amount they’ve taken before, an amount they know is reasonable. But what they don’t realize is that the heroin has been mixed with fentanyl.”

Louis nods in understanding. So Liam’s sister overdosed, but she only did so because the drugs she took were mixed with something she wasn’t aware of.

“But Ruth survived,” Louis says. 

Perrie nods. “Yes, though barely. It was touch and go for a minute there, but we ended up being able to save her life. I checked her in under an alias and let Liam know that I had, but I haven’t talked to him or seen him since."

Harry leans forward in his chair. “Perrie, can you answer one other question for us?” He asks. Perrie gestures for him to go on. “Does Liam have any involvement with drugs himself?” 

Perrie laughs out loud and shakes her head. “Definitely not,” she says. “He’s been against them ever since he was a kid, and when he found out Ruth used recreationally, he was furious. When she overdosed, he was too scared to be angry with her, but I know that under other circumstances, he would’ve been screaming her ear off for being so foolish.”

Louis feels like his body is overheating at this new information. If Liam hates drugs, why would he sell them? And if Liam’s sister overdosed, why would he need her to be checked into the hospital under an alias? None of it makes sense with the story that James and Jeff told Louis about Liam's work being major competition to their drug trade.

Perrie doesn't have any further information for them, so Louis and Harry thank her for taking the time to talk to them and get up to go.

“I promise we’re going to find Liam,” Louis says just before they leave. 

It’s probably a weird promise to make when you’ve been hired to kill someone, but Louis has a feeling that no matter how this mess ends, it’s not going to end with Louis killing Liam. Something doesn’t add up here, and Louis isn’t going to end someone’s life if James is lying about them being as much of a scumbag and criminal as he is. Everyone he's killed in the past have been lowlife's who hurt people, but it doesn't sound like that's who Liam is.

“Thank you,” Perrie says.

As Louis and Harry exit her building, Louis starts to feel like the last bits of energy he had have been leeched out of him. He stumbles on an uneven stone and starts reeling, but Harry catches him before he falls to the ground.

“Louis,” Harry says worriedly. “What’s going on?” 

Louis just stands there, allowing Harry to hold him upright. His brain feels like mush.

Harry leans down to sniff Louis again, and Louis sees him eyeballing the moisture accumulating on Louis’ forehead and upper lip. “Fuck,” Harry says as he comes to a realization. “Louis, are you due for a heat?” He asks. 

Louis blinks and tries to remember his heat schedule, which he generally tracks using a small calendar on his bathroom mirror. _Fuck_ , he thinks as he realizes. The overheating and that off feeling he's had all day were because he's going into heat.

“Oh no,” Louis says in a small voice. 

Immediately, Harry goes into alpha mode. When an alpha walking by starts getting a little too close, the strength of Louis’ heightened scent too much to ignore, Harry growls at him in a way that makes Louis shiver, despite his overheated body. 

“It’s okay, sweet omega,” Harry says softly, leaning down to kiss Louis’ damp forehead. “I’m going to lift you, okay?” He asks, and when Louis nods, Harry immediately picks him up into a bridal carry, one of Louis' arms wrapped around his neck, and begins jogging back toward his flat. 

Louis whimpers at the feeling of being jostled, but Harry tries to soothe him. “It’s okay, honey,” he says, barely sounding out of breath. “I know this isn’t comfortable, but I’ve got to get you home as quickly as possible, okay?” 

Louis knows he’s right, so he just nods and buries his face in Harry’s chest. 

It might be ten minutes later or two years later, but eventually, Louis and Harry are back in Harry’s flat. Louis tunes back in as Harry brings him into his bedroom and lays him down in the nest on his bed gently. Louis immediately begins peeling off layers of his clothing, starting with his coat and the sweater he has underneath. When Louis’ bare chest is exposed to the chilly room, he sighs in relief and starts to reach for his pants. 

“Wait,” Harry says, and Louis notices that his voice sounds pained. “What do you need, Lou?” He asks. “Cold water and snacks, but what else? I don’t have any toys for you, but maybe…” 

Harry runs his hands through his hair, and Louis can tell he’s trying to think of something that he can loan Louis so he can stuff it up his arse for the next couple of days.

“Your cock,” Louis suggests, and Harry groans. 

“I’m not going to do that,” Harry says after he’s gotten a grip on himself. Figuratively, not literally. “You’re safe here, Louis. Nobody is going to hurt you and I’m going to make sure that you have what you need to get through this even if you’re not home.” 

With that, Harry turns on his heels and exits the room, closing the door softly behind him. Louis sits there on the bed in shock for a moment, even as his skin prickles with uncomfortable heat. He can’t believe that he has slick is dripping down his arse and the most attractive alpha he’s ever seen is on the other side of the wall ignoring that fact. 

Another wave of heat rolls over him, and Louis unbuttons his pants and wiggles out of them. He’s left only in a pair of black panties that he'd gotten from the next-day delivery clothing order they placed days ago so Louis would have more to wear than his own bloody hoodie and Harry's too-large clothing. They're soaked through in the back, and Louis can’t help but cup his dick over the fabric, squeezing lightly.

“Oh god,” Louis says, feeling his hole clench around nothing. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to get through a heat without an alpha and any proper toys when he’s about five minutes in and this already feels like torture. Louis grinds down against the bed and bites the pillow, moaning as the motion provides just the tiniest bit of relief. 

He continues the grinding motion until he comes, and it takes Louis a minute afterward to realize that he just came all over Harry’s bed. When he lifts his head, Louis gets a strong whiff of the alpha from his sheets, and Louis cries out, his cock already filling again.

Harry needs to fuck him. Not just because that’s the best way for Louis to get through this heat in one piece, but also because Louis just really wants Harry to fuck him.

The door is still closed, but Louis would bet that Harry is just on the other side of it, listening and trying to resist rubbing one out to the sounds Louis is making, the mental images of Louis writhing around in the alpha’s bed, and the smell of Louis' slick and come all over Harry's sheets and their nest. 

Louis is determined to change that, but first, he has to find a way to get out of bed. It takes Louis a moment to steady himself enough to get up, and almost immediately, his knees buckle and he collapses into a pitiful omega heap on the floor. Louis groans at the pain radiating from his knees, but rather than get back into bed, he crawls across the floor toward the door.

“Are you okay?” He hears Harry ask through gritted teeth on the other side of the door. He’s clearly concerned because he heard the thud, but Louis doesn’t really care.

“No,” Louis whimpers out, leaning against the inside of the door. 

“What do you need, baby?” Harry asks, and Louis tugs his cock out of his panties so he can touch himself to the sound of Harry’s deep voice. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“Need a knot,” Louis pants in response to the first question. 

There’s silence on the other side of the door, but then Louis hears what sounds like a body sinking its way to the floor. He and Louis are on either side of the door now, the alpha and his knot his inches away, and Louis can’t help but jerk himself off faster.

“D’you have a couple of fingers stuffed inside?” Harry asks.

Louis shakes his head, but then he realizes that Harry can’t see him. 

“No,” he answers. “It’s not as good.” 

Louis hears Harry bang his head against the door before he answers. “It’s enough though, isn’t it, baby? Just gotta do what you can to fill yourself up.”

Louis whimpers and reaches his other hand around behind him, pushing his panties aside so he can stuff two fingers into his wet hole. He moans at the feeling and clenches around them, but it’s still not enough. If anything, stuffing his small fingers only makes it more clear to him that this isn't enough.

“Not full enough,” Louis cries out as he pushes his fingers in and out, the slick pouring down his wrist. “Alpha, please, I need your knot. I don’t want my fingers, I want you.” He doesn't care that he's whining, because no matter how pathetic he sounds, it's nowhere near as pathetic as he feels. He's desperate, and he doesn't know what he'll do if Harry doesn't come into this bedroom and fuck the life out of him in the next few seconds.

Louis hears Harry sigh on the other side of the door, and that’s not the response he’s looking for. Not at all. He can’t believe that after all of the sexual tension he’s experienced across the bar counter from Harry and even more so since he started stating in his flat, they’re now on opposite sides of a thin door with Louis near-naked and Harry hard and throbbing just inches away, yet Harry refuses to do anything about it.

“I’m supposed to protect you,” Harry says helplessly.

The overwhelming heat and creeping sadness from rejection are both making it difficult for Louis to focus, but he tries to pull himself out of the fog enough to respond to that properly.

“I don’t need to be protected from the things I want or the things I ask for,” Louis says, panting. He lets go of his cock and removes his fingers as he curls up into a ball near the door. He feels like he’s crawling out of his skin and he doesn't know how else to make Harry understand.

He’s just about to give up and allow the waves of heat to overtake him completely when the door opens. The second he's through the door, Harry reaches down and picks Louis up off the floor like he weighs nothing, throwing him over his shoulder and walking over to the bed, where he sets the omega down gently onto his nest. When Harry sees the come and slick already there, he moans, and Louis can see his cockhead popping out the top of his jeans from where the alpha tried to give it a little room to breathe. Louis’ mouth waters at the sight.

“You want this?” Harry asks, and Louis just nods from where he’s lying near naked on the bed. That’s apparently the last level of consent that Harry needed before he will allow himself to have this, and it’s like a dam has been broken.

Harry grows and holds Louis down as he grabs the lace panties with his teeth and tugs them off Louis’ body without hesitation. When Louis is completely bare, Harry leans down to kiss him hard, and Louis can't help but chase his mouth as he pulls away. The alpha doesn't give him time to complain, however, instead immediately moving to suck bruises down the side of Louis’ neck. He briefly licks at where his bonding mark would be and then makes his way down to Louis’ nipples. 

Louis is sensitive enough there that he feels himself start to cry, overwhelmed by pleasure, and when Harry sticks two thick fingers into his wet arse, the tears start coming heavier. 

“Fuck, alpha,” Louis cries out, too overwhelmed to say anything else

To his disappointment, Harry immediately pulls back, but Louis barely has time to process that emotion before Harry is flipping him over and pulling him onto all fours. 

“You sweet omega,” Harry says, leaning down to press a kiss into the center of Louis’ spine. “I’m gonna fuck you now, okay? Is that what you want?” 

Louis is practically sobbing now, so he doesn’t bother responding. He just nods frantically.

He hears Harry unzip his jeans behind him, but when Louis glances back, he sees that the alpha doesn't plan on taking them off. Instead, he just pulls his cock out, engorged with blood and bigger than any dildo Louis has dared to use, and that's enough. Louis bites his lip and turns back so that he’s looking down at the bed, on all fours with his alpha positioned behind him. 

Harry pushes two of his fingers back in, twisting in and out in a stretching motion that Louis definitely doesn’t need at this point. Thankfully, Harry doesn’t continue the motion for long, and finally, _finally_ , Louis feels him pull Louis’ arse back and press his cock inside. 

Louis is sobbing again, so grateful to finally experience the relief of being full, and he appreciates Harry's slow, steady pace until he bottoms out. 

“Y’okay?” Harry asks when he's balls deep. He sounds completely breathless with wonder, and something about it makes Louis’ heart skip a beat. 

He nods again. “Thank you, alpha,” he says.

Harry grunts and starts fucking him in earnest, clearly reacting positively to being called alpha. He holds onto Louis’ hip, taking care to avoid his wound, and pulls him in like a ragdoll. Louis doesn’t think he’s ever been so loud during sex in his life. It’s everything that he wanted and more, and as Louis feels Harry’s knot begin to expand, he knows that this was the only way his heat could’ve ended in this flat.

“Gonna fill you up,” Harry says, his hips starting to thrust more erratically. “Gonna give you what you want, okay, baby? Gonna give you the babies you always dreamed of. You're so good, and I'm going to give you exactly what you need."

Louis cries out again and has his second orgasm of the night just as Harry pushes his knot past his rim, just as he feels Harry coming inside him too.

His arms are wobbling where he’s supporting himself, but Harry immediately pulls Louis up against his chest and flips them over in a motion that is more gentle and graceful than anything Louis knew the alpha was capable of. He settles back in Louis' nest with the omega sitting in his lap, still impaled on his knot. Harry’s still coming, and he licks the side of Louis’ neck once they’re seated.

“Shhhh,” Harry soothes Louis’ whimpers. “You’re safe and full. Just sleep, omega.” 

So Louis does. 

\--

The heat burns on through the night. Louis wakes up to Harry easing out of him after about an hour, and when Louis clutches at him desperately, Harry calms him with a gentle hand on his chin. He pulls him in and kisses him, and Louis lets his eyes fall closed.

“Just going to clean you up and get you something to eat, baby,” Harry reassures.

Sure enough, he returns a few minutes later with a bowl of fruit and some toast, and while Louis eats, Harry wipes the slick and come off his legs, stomach, and arse. There’s not much point to it, considering Harry’s hands on him only make him start to slick up again, but Louis appreciates the concern and effort that Harry has shown him every second of this heat. He’s not sure Harry could be more perfect if he tried.

Then Harry fucks him again with Louis in his lap, moving him up and down on his cock easily while Louis loops his arms around his shoulders and cries. When Harry asks him if he’s alright, Louis just nods and cries some more, too overwhelmed with pleasure to find the right words.

They’re able to sleep more after that, and Harry eventually makes them some soup while Louis hovers by his side like a shadow, intertwining their hands so that Harry has to add the ingredients and stir the broth one-handed. 

Harry never complains or acts annoyed, not even once. All he does is pull Louis closer.

\--

After about 24 hours, Louis wakes up to his heat simmering just beneath the surface of his skin rather than burning as it was before. Harry is snoring next to him, open-mouthed with his cock out and half-hard against his hip, and Louis bites his lip while he looks at him. He’s not sure how he managed to end up in a situation where he experienced an accidental heat while trapped in the flat of the hottest alpha alive, but he can’t help but feel grateful.

Louis wants to take a shower, but he’s still needy enough that he doesn’t want to go without Harry. He nudges Harry’s hip until he wakes up, hoping the alpha won’t be angry after all the work he's put into fucking Louis over the past day.

Harry groans as he wakes up, but when he opens his eyes, they fall upon Louis immediately. He looks sleep rumbled and has a dried spot of Louis’ come on his cheek, but he gives Louis a bright smile.

“Doing okay?” He asks sweetly, and Louis’ heart flutters. 

Louis smiles back and nods. “I am, but…" He trails off for a few seconds before continuing. “I wanted to take a shower, and I’m still feeling very—” He waves his hand around, hoping that’s explanation enough. “So, I was hoping you might come with me.”

Harry reaches out and strokes the side of Louis’ cheek. 

“Of course,” he says.

He allows Louis to cling to him as they walk to the bathroom, even when Harry makes a brief pit stop at the linen closet to grab a couple of towels, and Harry even holds Louis’ hand as the alpha tests the water before encouraging Louis to step inside. 

The hot water feels incredible on Louis’ sore muscles, and he can tell from the deep sigh that Harry lets out when he gets in that it does for him as well. 

“Looks much better,” Harry says as he examines the graze wound still on Louis’ side, and Louis glances down. He’s been so focused on pleasure since his heat began that he forgot the wound even existed, but the wound has scabbed over completely and looks like it is well on its way to being completely healed.

“No need to fish for compliments. I already know I owe that to your first aid skills,” Louis says with a playful shove, and Harry grabs his hand and brings it to his mouth. Louis expects him to kiss it, which he does, but he doesn't expect the little nibble that Harry takes afterward just to make him laugh.

“How about the omega stops sassing me and turns around,” Harry says, and Louis’ not sure what Harry plans to do when he turns around, but he obliges. He gasps a little when he hears Harry drop to his knees behind him, and Louis barely has time to turn his head before the alpha’s mouth is on him, licking and sucking on his rim, soothing the burn that happens after taking a knot repeatedly in such a short period of time.

“God, alpha, please,” Louis says, bracing his hands on the shower wall in front of him and pushing his bum back into Harry's face. Harry’s hands are on his arse cheeks, spreading them apart so he can eat Louis out properly. 

Louis may be out of the worst throes of his heat, but he’s not out of them enough to not get hard when his alpha is licking him out. He tries to just ignore his cock, instead focusing on the feeling of Harry's tongue lapping inside his hole, taking in the mixture of slick and come that’s been leaking out of him for hours, but Louis should’ve guessed that Harry wouldn't ignore it. 

Harry gets to his feet and spins Louis around before grabbing hold of their cocks in one large hand, and Louis moans at the feeling of Harry’s hot skin against his. When he glances down and sees how long and thick Harry’s is by comparison, he swallows hard. It’s hard to believe that even fit inside of him.

Harry kisses him as he rubs them off together, and when Louis comes, he gasps into Harry’s mouth. Harry follows right behind him with a grunt, and when Louis opens his eyes, he sees Harry look down at him with a sweet smile. 

Harry turns him around again to help him wash his hair and rub a loofah down Louis’ back. It makes Louis feel so cared for in a way that he’s always dreamed of, but never experienced. When Louis turns around again to face Harry, Harry looks upset at the expression on his face.

“Are you okay, baby?” Harry asks.

Louis just nods and lets out a wet laugh. “I’m just happy,” he says.

Harry smiles, face dimpling. “Me too,” he says.

Louis’ heat takes another day to fully end, and they have sex three more times in that time period. When Louis finally wakes with a regular body temperature again, he realizes that throughout the entire heat, he didn’t think about James, Jeff, Liam, Ruth, or any of his other worries.

Not even once.

**\--**

After Louis' heat has ended and Harry finally allows him out of the nest, they decide that they want to head back to Liam’s flat one more time. Now that they have a little more understanding about who Liam is, Louis wants to make sure that they haven’t missed anything that might give them a clue as to where they can find him.

They get into Liam’s building the same way as the last two times Louis went there, and once again, Louis manages to break in using his credit card trick while Harry keeps watch.

They slip into the flat unnoticed, glancing around. Louis’ not sure what he expects to see because he knows that it’s unlikely they missed some kind of enormous clue the first time they were here, but Louis can't help but hold out hope that they might find something else that helps them. He feels like they're so close to figuring it all out.

Louis searches the bedroom and living area this time and Harry takes on the kitchen, both of them rummaging through cabinets and drawers and checking under pieces of furniture.

“I’m not seeing anything new,” Harry concedes after about fifteen minutes or so. He comes over to stand by Louis, but keeping a respectable distance away.

All Louis wants is for the alpha to touch him, but as soon as his heat ended, Harry went back to treating him the same way he had before. The only difference is that now, while there is still that undercurrent of sexual tension, they know where the sparks can lead. It makes it even more painful to have Harry constantly holding back.

Louis sighs, half out of disappointment over not finding a new clue, and half out of disappointment over Harry acting like such a prude.

He’s about to walk toward the entry door and exit the flat again, mission failed, when Louis sees the trash can where he returned the club flyer days ago. Louis specifically remembers placing the flyer on the top before he left, but it’s gone now.

“Wait,” Louis says, reaching out to grab Harry’s arm before he opens the door. He glances around the trash can to see if the flyer could have dropped behind it, but it’s nowhere to be found. “Somebody’s been here.” His heart starts thumping and Louis' instincts are crying out that danger is near.

As soon as Louis says that, the door to the flat opens and Liam Payne walks in with a gun trained on them.

Louis and Harry both freeze, and immediately, Harry steps in front of Louis, pushing the omega behind him and putting his hands up in a defensive posture.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you,” Liam says with an angry tone, but when Louis peeks out from behind Harry, he can see that Liam is shaking like he’s never handled a gun before today. He probably hasn’t, Louis realizes.

“Because we’re trying to save your life,” Harry says slowly.

Liam closes the door behind him and steps further into his own flat, gun still shaking in his hand. Harry eyes it wearily.

“You tried to kill me,” Liam says accusingly, pointing toward Louis. Harry reaches a hand behind his back and holds Louis in place, completely sheltered behind him.

“Yes, I did,” Louis says from where he is behind Harry. His stomach is in knots at being confronted over what he did, the first time that's ever happened. Usually, his victims aren't around to complain or call him out. “I was hired by a man named James Corden to kill you. He told me that you were working in drug trafficking and posed a threat to his business. But that’s not true, is it? You aren’t into drugs at all. But something happened with your sister that put you on James’ radar.”

Louis peeks around Harry and sees Liam nod. He still doesn’t look like he wants to lower the gun, but he looks less like he wants to shoot them, and Louis considers that progress.

“My sister overdosed on heroin mixed with fentanyl,” Liam says. “She had no idea that crap was even in it, and I know she shouldn’t have done the drugs in the first place, but they almost killed her. And I happen to know who her supplier was, this stupid oaf who hangs out at Kiwi Club sometimes, and I know who he works for.”

Louis gently removes Harry’s arm from where it’s holding him in place and steps out from behind him.

“James Corden is mixing dirty drugs and they almost killed your sister,” Louis says, and Liam nods. “But that doesn’t explain why he wants to kill you.”

Liam sighs and finally puts the gun down, slumping against the wall. Louis feels Harry breathe a sigh of relief.

“I was too hot-headed when I found out what happened,” he says. “I called a friend of mine who works at the hospital and told her to check Ruth in under a fake name to keep her safe, and then I went to find James Corden.”

Harry groans, clearly knowing where this was going.

“I threatened him,” Liam whispers. “I told him that I’d expose him if it was the last thing I did.”

Louis is the one to groan this time. Nobody threatens James and gets away with it. Louis doesn't have to hang around at the warehouse all the time or be well-versed in the day-to-day happenings of his business to know that.

“It was a mistake and I knew as soon as I’d left,” Liam says. “I don’t even know why he let me go without just killing me there, but after that, I knew my number was up. It’s why I wasn’t really surprised when you came up on me in that alley. I’d been expecting it. I had no idea who or where or when, but I knew that he wasn’t going to let a threat like that lie.”

Louis sits down next to Liam on the floor and puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“We’re going to help you and Ruth get out of here,” he promises, and he looks up at Harry, who is just standing and watching them. “And we’re going to fake your death so James thinks you’re taken care of.” The idea comes to him as he says it, and he doesn’t know exactly how they’ll do this yet, but they’ll figure it out.

“We will, Liam,” Harry confirms, reaching down to help Louis up first, and then Liam. “Are you staying somewhere safe right now?”

Liam nods. “I’m staying with a friend across the city. I just came back to get some more clothes, but I guess that was probably not the best idea.” He glances around his flat sadly, likely knowing that this is the last time he’ll ever be here.

“Well, it did bring you to us,” Louis says. “But you can't come back here again. If I'm taking too long and James decides to send somebody else after you, you won't get lucky again. Just give us your phone number and we’ll figure out the details of how to do this. Once we have, we’ll text you.”

Liam jots his phone number down on a piece of paper in the kitchenette and hands it to Louis.

“I’m sorry I shot you,” Liam says sadly as he hands it to him. Louis laughs and looks into Liam's large puppy dog eyes.

“You’re not the best shot,” he says gently. “So please don’t worry about it. I’m sorry I tried to kill you in an alley.”

Liam laughs and shakes his head, clearly in disbelief at how his life has changed in the past few weeks.

“All is forgiven,” he says.

They wait while Liam stuffs some clothing into a bag before exiting out his front door, and Louis and Harry follow a few minutes later.

They've finally figured out what's going on, but now they have to figure out how to fix it.

\--

Louis is curled up on the sofa watching a documentary when Harry comes in with a bowl of popcorn and sits down next to him. He’s been at the kitchen table on his laptop for a while, so Louis hasn’t actually talked to him in a couple of hours.

“Hi,” Harry says when he sits down. “Just left a message for my friend Niall, who should be able to help us with getting Liam and Ruth the hell out of here.” 

Louis pauses the documentary and smiles.

“Thank you,” he says, touching Harry’s knee with his small hand. “Seriously.” 

Harry shakes his head. “Lou, you don’t need to thank me,” he starts, but Louis cuts him off.

“I really, really do,” he says, laughing. “You had no part in any of this, yet you saved my life, let me stay here for days on end, and now are using your own former contacts to help me fix this for Liam and Ruth. You didn’t have to do any of this, but you did it anyway.” 

Harry looks slightly uncomfortable at the praise, but Louis just squeezes his knee again. 

“Just say you’re welcome,” he whispers, and Harry does crack a smile at that.

“You’re welcome,” Harry says finally, and he sets the popcorn down on the cushion next to him. “But you know, I didn’t do this for Liam or even for Ruth, as horrible as that may sound. I just — I did it for you.” 

Harry’s looking at him with nothing but raw honesty in his eyes, and Louis is startled by the intensity of it. He licks his lips, and Harry’s eyes track the movement. 

When Harry begins to lean down, Louis lets his eyes fall closed. After years of pretending that Louis didn't want Harry, the sexy bartender that he only knew from across the counter, for Louis to finally get to know him and then have him during his heat, only for Harry to go back to forcing a respectable distance between them — Louis just can't do this anymore. Louis wants him more than anything, and he's not afraid to admit that anymore.

When Harry’s mouth meets his, he places his hands on Louis’ face, gently holding him in place as his tongue passes Louis’ lips. Louis gives a small whimper and Harry lets out a small groan in return, immediately pulling Louis into his lap so they can be closer together. The omega straddles his thighs and touches his chest and Harry licks his way into Louis' mouth, and just as one of Harry’s hands begins sliding down toward his arse, Harry’s phone rings.

Louis pulls back, startled, and Harry lets his head fall onto the back of the sofa, letting out a frustrated sigh. “I’m sorry, baby,” Harry says. “That’s probably Niall.” 

It takes Louis a second to force himself out of the stupor a simple pet name places him in, but he eventually manages to crawl out of Harry’s lap so the alpha can get up and jog over to his phone.

“Hey, Niall,” Harry says when he answers.

Across the room, Louis tries to ignore the feeling of slick dripping down his thighs.

\--

Louis doesn’t know what to expect when Harry tells him they’re going to meet his friend Niall, but if he had to guess, he wouldn’t think that they would end up at a car wash. 

Harry pulls in like any other customer, but when a brunette beta man comes around for payment and Harry rolls down his window, the man immediately recognizes him and smiles.

“H!” Niall exclaims excitedly. “It’s been way too long since I saw that hideously scarred face.” 

Louis looks between them in confusion, trying to figure out if this is some kind of joke or if Harry really does have hideous scarring that Louis failed to notice. It’s then that Niall realizes Harry has a passenger in his car, and he chuckles at the expression on Louis’ face.

“Y’see?” Niall asks, pushing a finger into Harry’s cheek where his dimple would be. Harry smiles at the motion, and Niall immediately digs his finger in deeper when the dimple appears. “Look at these hideous scars in his cheeks. Horribly sad, because he’d be so handsome without them.” 

Harry rolls his eyes and shoves Niall’s hands away. “Shut up, you prick.” 

Niall looks across the car at Louis and winks. “What’s in it for me?” He asks, turning his attention back to Harry. He’s still joking around, but Louis can tell that there’s some genuine curiosity as to what Harry wanted to meet up with him for.

“We need two new identities for some friends,” Harry says, and Niall glances around to make sure nobody is standing nearby. “Not permanent new identities, but just enough for them to get out of the city. Fake IDs that they can use to book tickets on a train, probably, but that should be enough.” 

Niall nods. “Meet me in my office in like 10, alright?” 

Harry pulls into the nearest parking spot and does just that.

**  
  
**

\--

  
  


“So how do you know Harry?” Niall asks about an hour later as the new IDs for Liam and Ruth are printing. Harry’s just run to the loo, so Louis and Niall are standing there alone.

Considering Niall is breaking the law as they speak, Louis decides it's safe to share some of the truth.

“I go to his pub sometimes,” Louis says. “I also do some, well…”

“You’re involved in some kind of criminal enterprise, yeah, yeah,” Niall fills in the blank. “Been there, done that. Actually, still being there, doing that, though not as much as I was a few years back. Harry and I both wanted to be free of it, but neither of us did a great job of walking away completely.” 

Louis frowns at that, but Harry returns from the loo before he can ask Niall to explain. He comes up behind Louis and touches his hip gently as he looks over his shoulder at the printer, which has already produced a new ID for Ruth and is now slowly printing Liam’s.

“They look good,” Harry says, his breath on Louis’ neck. Louis ignores the small rush of slick that escapes, but he can tell by Harry’s low chuckle that he’s not going to ignore.

“Leave the poor man alone instead of making him wet himself,” Niall says, and Louis’ mouth gapes open at that choice of words. He can feel his cheeks heat up. “He was just trying to explain to me how you two met.” 

Harry steps back, giving Louis some space to breathe, and he gestures for Louis to continue.

“Go on,” he says. “I’d like to hear this myself.” 

Louis glares before turning to Niall and straightening up to make himself look taller. Niall just smacks his gum, gives Louis an amused glance, and looks at Harry in a way that makes Louis feel like they’re having a conversation with their eyes. God, Louis seriously hates these two together.

“Anyway,” he begins. “I got into some trouble a couple of weeks ago while trying to get a job done and Harry saved me.” 

Niall laughs. “Ah yes, the heroic prince rushing in to save the damsel in distress.” 

When Louis glances at Harry, he’s pretty sure that smirk can be seen from outer space.

“You could say that,” Harry says, and Louis smacks his arm. 

“No, you couldn’t,” he says, but Harry and Niall both still have infuriating looks on their faces. Louis gives up on telling Niall the full story and instead decides to cut it short. “Long story short, he helped me out, we did a little research into the job that I had been doing, and now we want to help two people escape a shitty situation.” 

Niall nods in understanding, even with that limited information.

“I get it,” he says as he pulls the now completed Liam ID off the printer and hands them both to Harry. “Most of what I do these days is just help out friends in trouble, so if you ever need anything — and I mean anything, whether it’s dumping a body or buying you McDonald's — just let me know. A special friend of Harry’s is a friend of mine.” 

He winks lewdly on the word “special,” but Louis just laughs. Despite himself, he can't help but like Niall. He exchanges phone numbers with the beta just in case, though not without the hope that once he’s done with this job, he’ll never need the help of a criminal ever again. 

Niall also takes a couple of minutes to purchase the train tickets for Liam and Ruth under their fake identities. When Louis and Harry leave the car wash an hour after they arrived, they do so with a clean car, two fake IDs, two train tickets, and everything they need to finish this job for good.

\--

Since Halloween is not for many months, Louis and Harry know their options for finding fake blood to purchase in a corner store is unlikely. They search for a recipe online instead, and Harry runs out to the grocery store to purchase corn syrup and red food coloring. 

They have a little too much fun mixing it and pouring it into a squeeze bottle, and by the end of the evening, they’re both covered in red food dye, and Harry’s kitchen doesn’t look much better. Louis showers while Harry cleans it up to prevent it from staining, and when Louis comes out, clean and fake blood-free, Harry takes his own shower. 

They meet Liam in an alley that Harry is familiar enough with to know that it’s almost always empty. “I’ve made hits there before,” he admits to Louis after they text Liam the address.

There’s less pressure since they’re not actually planning on killing Liam, but it doesn’t hurt to have the staging set right. 

They set out after dark, and they’re barely five steps outside Harry’s building before Louis is shivering. Harry rolls his eyes fondly and shrugs out of his coat, and Louis doesn’t bother hiding his smile when he pulls it on. He nudges his nose into the shoulder of the material and inhales. When he turns to Harry to thank him, he sees Harry watching him with a smile.

Louis decides that if they’re going to be cheesy and act like a courting couple, he might as well go all the way with it. When Harry reaches out to hold his hand, Louis lets him, and he clings to Harry like a koala as they walk the few blocks to the alley they chose.

Liam is already waiting there.

“Hi, killers,” he jokes when they arrive, and Harry laughs.

“That’s an interesting outfit,” Louis says, glancing down at Liam’s oddly colored jacket and t-shirt. It’s not anything like the clothing Louis saw Liam wearing while he was observing him; instead, it kind of just looks like he raided a thrift shop before arriving.

Liam shrugs sheepishly. “I didn’t want to wreck my good clothes,” he explains.

Louis can’t blame him for that, as he thinks longingly about the clothes waiting in his closet at home. He hasn’t seen any of his outfits for weeks, and though he enjoys wearing Harry’s clothes and the few new outfits he purchased, he does miss some of his favorite sweaters and hoodies sometimes. 

Louis has an eye for detail, so he sets the stage for their photoshoot. He tells Liam to lay down on the dirty pavement in a dark area, far from any street lamps and the light of the buildings on either side of them. Liam complains the entire time, but he still obliges. 

Harry helps Louis rearrange Liam’s limbs into something a bit more unnatural, the type of position that bodies tend to fall in when someone has been shot and killed. Once he’s set the way they want him, Harry uses a pocket knife to cut a small bullet-sized hole into Liam’s jacket and shirt and Louis begins dousing the area with the fake blood. 

Louis tries to avoid looking at the bodies when he can, but he’s familiar enough with the look of it to be able to make it look convincing. Harry helps, suggesting a dribble from Liam’s mouth, as his head is turned to the side and partially visible. 

After a few minutes of arranging everything just so, Louis is satisfied. 

He takes three different photo options and tries to ensure that they’re low quality, as most of his photos tend to be taken when he’s trying to book it away from the scene of the crime. 

Like a Door Dash driver confirming that they dropped off someone’s food, all Jeff and James require is some kind of visual proof of Louis completing the task. As long as Louis doesn’t overthink it, he knows one of these photos will be convincing enough.

Liam stays in position on the ground until Louis and Harry have decided on one of the photos. As soon as they do, Louis sends it to Jeff with his usual **Done** text message. He doesn't want to keep them waiting even a second longer than they have to, especially after Jeff sounded so suspicious of him on the phone.

As Harry helps Liam off the ground, Louis fishes into his back pocket to pull out the fake IDs and train tickets for Liam and his sister.

"Your train leaves at noon tomorrow," Louis says. Liam examines the new IDs and the train tickets, and when he looks up, he looks like a grateful puppy.

“Thank you,” Liam says earnestly. “Uh, can I give you a hug?”

Louis nods and smiles, happy to have been forgiven by the man he tried to murder so recently. He'd also never pass up a cuddle, especially not now that his touch deprivation feels so far behind him after so many days spent with Harry. “Of course.”

Liam leans in and pulls Louis off his feet, hugging him and spinning him around with pure joy over finally being free of the dangerous situation he found himself in. Louis can't help but laugh at his enthusiasm, though he quickly hears a growl from the alpha standing a few feet away.

Liam drops Louis immediately and backs up, hands raised in his own defense.

“Calm down, alpha,” Louis laughs, stepping closer to Harry. Harry rolls his eyes and grumbles, but he sticks out a hand for Liam to shake.

“Good luck tomorrow,” Harry says, but as he says the words, he slides his other hand down to rest on Louis' arse possessively.

Liam just laughs and thanks them one more time before pulling off his fake blood-stained jacket and draping it over his arm in a way that will allow him to carry it home without arousing suspicion. Harry places the bottle with the fake blood in his pocket and Louis checks to make sure they didn't leave anything behind.

When they part ways, Louis can’t help but smile to himself. 

They pulled it off. Today marks the day when both Louis and Liam are finally free.

\--

“Good morning, baby,” Harry says as he kisses Louis gently. He has a mug of coffee in one hand and placed the other on the nightstand for Louis. It smells divine. 

Louis stretches from where he’s half-buried blankets, one of Harry’s hoodies tucked under his head. He pulls himself into a sitting position against the headboard and gives Harry a sleepy smile before picking up his coffee and giving it a sip.

“Good morning, alpha,” he says, and Harry leans in to kiss Louis again at that. One kiss turns into another, and then another, until they both have to put their coffees down and Harry is lying on top of Louis, propping himself up on his elbows and kissing his way down Louis’ neck. He licks at Louis’ bond spot just to make Louis shiver.

After a few minutes of making out like teenagers, Louis glances at the clock on the nightstand.

“You’ve got to go shower, Harry,” he says, playfully shoving the alpha off him. 

Harry groans.

“Alright, alright,” he says, climbing out of the bed with all the grace of the abominable snowman, which is to say none at all. He looks sleep-rumpled, but he gives Louis a dimpled smile before turning and walking toward the closet. 

Louis drinks some more of his coffee and scrolls through his iPhone, returning texts to two of his sisters, as Harry gathers enough articles of clothing to form his outfit for the day and retrieves a fresh towel before retreating to the bathroom for his shower. 

As soon as he’s out of sight, Louis puts his coffee back down and curls up in bed again, unable to resist. There’s a comfort to being in Harry’s bed and the nest they built together that Louis never quite felt in his own, despite how much time he spent in it over the years. Louis feels so safe and happy here.

He lies there for a few minutes, the distant sound of the shower running in the other room. 

When Louis hears a buzz, he perks up, expecting it to be his phone. Instead, he sees Harry’s phone on his dresser, and Louis lays his head back down. Then it buzzes again, and then again, and Louis decides he should probably get up and make sure it’s not an emergency. Harry’s barely been on his phone the entire time they’ve been together to the point, so it’s a bit odd for him to get three messages in such rapid succession.

Louis wraps the blanket around himself like he’s a sausage roll and waddles across the room. When he reaches the dresser, he glances down at Harry’s phone and reads the messages lighting up the screen.

**J: Is it done?  
**

**J: We’re becoming concerned you aren't up for the job.**

**J: Get it done in the next 24 hours or Corden will be in touch.  
**

Louis feels the blood leave his face and he grips the dresser as his body sways.

There's no way that this is real. This can’t be what Louis thinks. It doesn’t make any sense after the past couple of weeks, after all the time that Louis and Harry spent together, after all the things that Harry said and did.

Louis isn’t normally one to rummage through someone’s phone, but he makes an exception this time. Harry has a passcode, but it only takes two guesses for Louis to figure it out — apparently, Harry missed the cybersecurity 101 tip not to use your birth year as your passcode for anything. 

Louis scrolls through Harry’s most recent texts, but they’re all cleared aside from a brief exchange with his sister about her kids and the three messages he just received. The same goes for his call log, which is empty. When Louis checks his contact list, however, he finds the phone number for J. He shuffles over to the bed to find his own burner phone and when he pulls up his contact list, he places his phone beside Harry’s and compares the two.

Louis already knew, just from the sinking feeling in his chest when he saw the texts, but this confirms it. Harry is texting Jeff about a job, and since Harry failed to mention anything about it, Louis has a good idea of what that job might be.

Louis swallows.

He’s got this. He has handled worse and he will get through this too, the heartbreak and the betrayal, but first, he needs to get out of this flat alive. 

Louis lets the blanket from his shoulders and listens to make sure the shower is still running before beginning to gather his things from around the flat. There isn’t much, just his two phones, his wallet, his gun, his beanie, his shoes, and the pair of jeans he was wearing the night he got shot, as the rest of his clothing was discarded due to the bloodstains. He puts on a new hoodie, but doesn’t bother with any of the other new clothes that he's acquired, the ones Harry picked up and the ones they had delivered, not only because he doesn’t have time, but also because the thought of wearing them makes Louis feel nauseous. 

Louis sighs with relief when he finds that his weapon still has the weight of bullets in it. He thought Harry would be better at his job than to leave Louis’ own gun fully loaded where he can find it easily, but he supposes that Harry had him fooled for almost two full weeks, so he must’ve done something right.

Louis takes off the pair of Harry’s sweatpants that he tied around his waist so they would stay up and pulls on his old pair of jeans, wiggling until they’re up over his hips. He knows he only has a couple of minutes left, and he needs to be fully prepared when Harry walks out of the bathroom.

Louis checks the safety on his gun and tucks it into his waistband. He remembers Harry keeps helpful supplies in a box in the hall closet, so he walks over to it and pulls it open. There are zip ties, rope, a box cutter, a mask, gloves, masking tape, and two unloaded guns. Louis considers using the zip ties, especially because he knows they can be quite painful, but he can’t bring himself to pick them up. Instead, he just takes two pieces of rope and the masking tape and decides that will do the trick. 

Louis hears the shower switch off and closes his eyes. He breathes deeply, trying to stay calm without his alpha scenting him, before returning to the bedroom with his gun out.

When Harry opens the door to the bathroom, Louis can tell he expects to see Louis just where he is, still in bed. The only difference is that rather than being hidden beneath blankets and snoozing quietly, Louis is perched on the edge with a gun trained on Harry’s chest.

Harry immediately stops, and Louis watches with fascination as the soft expression on his face dissolves into something like shock. A small, bitter part of Louis feels grateful for that. He’s glad he’s not the only person who was caught off guard today.

“What’s going on?” Harry asks carefully, holding his hands up. He’s wearing only a towel around his waist and Louis can still see the droplets from his hair making their way down his shoulders and chest. If not for those texts, Louis would probably want to lip those droplets off him, get down on his knees and show Harry how grateful he is for the morning coffee.

He did see the texts though, and everything is different now. 

“Put some clothes on,” Louis says, and he’s impressed by the steadiness of his voice. “Those,” Louis demands, pointing at the abandoned pair of boxers Harry left by the door when he went to shower. He doesn’t want to give Harry the opportunity to retrieve clothes from his closet or dresser and also stumble upon another weapon that he may have hidden in here.

Harry bends down to pick up the boxers without taking his eyes off Louis.

Louis wants to look away when Harry drops the towel and pulls the boxers on, but he can’t give Harry even a second of leverage that might allow him to overpower Louis. So he stares right at him and bites the inside of his cheek, begging his body to cooperate with him.

Thankfully, it does, the shock and horror of his discovery outweighing his omega instincts.

“They paid you to fuck me and kill me,” Louis says, the realization dawning on him.

His mind is spinning through everything that’s happened over the past week and a half since he tried and failed to kill Liam. The kind words, the gentle touches, the late-night confessions, the sweetness and sex in equal measure during his heat. None of it was real, from beginning to end.

“No, of course not,” Harry says, looking horrified.

That almost makes it worse.

Louis laughs bitterly as he gets to his feet. “So, they paid you to kill me. Fucking me was just a perk of the job.”

Harry looks quietly devastated at that, and Louis is glad. Whatever Harry is feeling right now cannot even come close to the utter betrayal and heartbreak that is shredding open every cell in Louis’ body as they stand there.

Harry runs his fingers through his hair, and Louis can smell the fear and guilt on him. He usually loves every Harry’s scent — how he smells when he sleeps, how he smells when he fucks, how he smells when he sweats — but not this one. This scent makes Louis feel ill, and he switches to breathing through his mouth instead of his nose because of it.

“It wasn’t like that,” Harry says finally. “It wasn’t like that at all, omega, please—” 

Louis lifts the gun higher and steels himself. 

“Don’t you fucking _dare_ call me that,” Louis threatens. “You selfish bastard. There is nothing that you can say that will make any of this better, nothing at all.” 

The gun in his hand is shaking with Louis’ body as he holds back a sob, and Louis can see Harry eyeing it wearily. He’d probably say anything to save his own arse at this point, Louis is sure.

“I’m a retired hitman,” Harry says, his hands out in front of him as if he’s trying to talk Louis down as he speaks. “I was telling the truth about that. I just didn’t mention that sometimes, on very rare occasions, maybe once or twice a year, I get calls from people who know me from the business and need a job done by someone with experience.” 

Louis laughs bitterly even as tears track down his face.

“Like a job killing someone who knows how to kill people themselves,” he says. “Of course, that would be a job that requires the services of someone with experience.” 

“Yes,” Harry confirms gently. “So I wasn’t that surprised when Jeff called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to take out one of their hitmen after they'd done a job. And then he said your name, and my heart stopped. It was the day you and Zayn were in my pub, and that’s why I acted so weirdly. I was trying to figure out what to do and didn’t know how to look at you after what they’d asked.”

Louis can feel his lip wobbling embarrassingly. He doesn’t lower the gun. 

“But you agreed,” Louis says. Though he already knows the answer, it hurts when Harry nods. He looks sad, but it's all a charade.

“I knew immediately that I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Harry says desperately, as if Louis would believe a word out of his lying mouth. “That’s why I saved your life, it’s why I’ve been helping you this week. Please, Louis, you have to understand that I had no reason to do all this if I was just going to take you out once Liam was dead.”

Louis will admit that he doesn’t understand the fucked up game that Harry’s been playing the last couple of weeks, but he also knows it doesn’t matter. This alpha lied and planned to kill him, and Louis will not stay here to let him finish the job. This is not how Louis' story ends.

Louis knows that he should just shoot the alpha and be done with it, but a voice in the back of his head tells him that he’ll break beyond repair if he does that. Despite what Harry did, Louis fell in love with him these past couple of weeks, maybe even over the past couple of years, and he can’t kill someone he loves.

Not even someone who broke him like Harry just did.

“Why did James and Jeff want me gone?” Louis asks, wiping the tears away with the back of his sleeve on the arm not holding the gun.

Harry sighs. “They didn’t tell me why,” he says. “But after what we discovered this week, the truth about Liam and why they wanted you to take him out, I suspect they just wanted anyone with knowledge of the fentanyl gone, and getting rid of you made it a closed loop. Liam would be dead, and the one who killed him gone too, so nobody outside of Corden's immediate circle who knew a thing about it would be left.”

Louis nods.

He’s surprised to realize that despite five years of history, he doesn’t feel any sense of betrayal from Jeff or James for what they’ve done. Louis supposes that he’s always known that he was nothing but a tool to them, easy to use, and even easier to dispose of. 

It also probably helps that his feeling of betrayal is almost solely focused on Harry at the moment.

Harry looks like he’s about to say something else, but Louis doesn’t need to hear anything else the alpha says. 

“Move,” Louis says, directing Harry into the living room. He follows from close behind with the gun on Harry’s back. Harry keeps moving until he sees the wooden chair that Louis dragged to the center of the room, and then he turns around. 

Louis and Harry are standing just a couple of feet away from each other now, with nothing but a gun between them. Harry’s looking at him apologetically, and it makes Louis sick. 

“Tie yourself up,” Louis says. There’s still a lump in his throat, but he’s done crying. He’s done fucking crying. 

Harry just stands there, looking at Louis. He doesn’t move.

“I said, tie yourself up,” Louis says again, more forcefully this time. Every word hurts.

Harry sits down in the chair and picks up one of the pieces of rope with an uncertain look.

“Your feet first,” Louis says, pointing the gun down toward Harry’s feet as an indication. Harry obliges silently, reaching down and tying his feet together with an ease that only comes from having done this countless times before. Louis wonders if Harry would’ve done that with him when he decided that he was done playing with his food. When it was time to kill him.

Once his feet are tied, Louis walks over and picks up the other piece of rope, keeping his gun on Harry the entire time. He moves behind the chair and tells Harry to put his hands behind his back before beginning the process of tying his hands together.

Louis makes quick work of it and tries not to think about what those hands did to his body just a few days before — what he'd started to believe they’d do to his body forever.

“I know that I fucked this up and I should’ve told you,” Harry says when Louis finishes tying him up and moves in front of the chair again, gun still out. Louis grits his teeth. “I know this situation is complicated and that I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I also know that you and me — we’re meant to be together.”

Louis shakes his head and laughs, unable to stop the dampness gathering at his eyes again.

“Meant to be together,” he says, feeling hysterical. God, he thought so too, but he’s never been more wrong about something in his entire life. 

“I know there’s no easy choice, but you’re mine,” Harry says. “I choose you over the body bags and the lies and the sketchy jobs. I’d choose you over the pub, I’d choose you over my own fucking life if I had to. Please, Louis. You have no reason to believe me, but that’s the truth.”

Louis just looks at Harry and tries to memorize every aspect of his features. The slope of his nose, the exact shade of green in his eyes, the wrinkles in his forehead when he frowns. He suspects this is the last time that he’ll ever see Harry, and despite how much it hurts, he doesn’t want to forget a thing.

“I don’t believe you,” he whispers, and watches as Harry’s face falls.

Louis picks up the masking tape off the table and pulls off a strip. He presses it against Harry’s lips, and Harry doesn't try to fight it.

When Louis walks out the door, he feels the last shards of his heart crumble to dust.

**\--**

The second that Louis is out of Harry’s flat, his calm facade cracks and he becomes instantly frantic and hysterical. His body shakes with sobs and he can barely see through his tears as he exits Harry’s building. He knows that he must be making a real scene for everyone walking by right now, but he can’t be bothered to care. 

All he needs at that moment is for his alpha to scent him and tell him that it’s going to be okay, but Louis doesn’t have an alpha, not anymore. He supposes he never did. 

Louis wanders for a block and then sits down on the curb to calm down. Several people tried to stop him on the way and ask if he was alright, but he just kept walking. He’s not sure who he can trust now, and he’s not going to risk talking to anyone.

Louis doesn’t even know where to go. He can’t return to his flat now that he knows Jeff and James want him dead, and he certainly can’t travel up north to see his family and put them at risk. He’s never been more grateful that he made the choice to hide his siblings from James’ knowledge. ****

Though Louis knows he can trust Zayn and that there’s no way Zayn has any knowledge of this plot, he would be putting him at risk too if he contacted him right now. If James or Jeff found out that Zayn had seen or talked to him, they’d probably take him out too. ****

Louis tries to think through his list of friends that still live in London, but the truth is that he’s lost contact with most of them over the past five years. His life has been divided between his nest and dark alleys for so long that Louis forgot what it was like to rely on other people, always focused on putting distance between himself and them because of his shame, and over time, he watched most of the people who cared about him move on. ****

Louis rubs his hands over his face and tries to think. Where can a desperate omega go? ****

He thinks of Liam, who is probably already at the train station with his sister, ready to start a new life far away from the death and danger that seems to hover over everyone here in London. Louis wishes desperately that he could go with them and make his own escape.

Wait. Louis feels his heartbeat thumping in his ears as he thinks of Liam and Ruth, both of whom are probably clutching their fake IDs and train tickets in their hand as he sits there. Fake IDs and train tickets that were acquired by Harry, a man who has been lying and plotting against Louis for two weeks. Louis has no idea what Harry’s told James about Louis’ plan for Liam and Ruth’s escape. For all he knows, Liam could be walking into a trap right now.

Louis knows that he should be focused on getting himself to safety considering he’s the person most at risk right now, but he can’t, not when Liam and Ruth might be in danger. He sees a bus stop across the street and Louis gets up off the curb and runs toward it. ****

He hops on the next bus that arrives.

\--

Louis climbs off the bus fifteen minutes later, and when he glances at his phone, he sees that he has just a few minutes to spare. He remembers which platform Liam and Ruth are boarding on from the tickets, and thankfully, Louis is familiar enough with this station that he knows exactly where to go. ****

He weaves in and out of crowds of people milling about the station, blissfully unaware of the possibility that a bunch of thugs with guns could show up at any moment. ****

Several of them glare at Louis as he rushes by and Louis’ instincts tell him to stop and apologize, but he dismisses them. He doesn’t have time to be a good omega today. ****

Finally, Louis reaches the platform and begins scanning the people waiting for the train, which he hears approaching. He walks briskly through the crowd, maneuvering around people so he can see their faces, and he looks for a brunette around Liam’s height. ****

Finally, Louis spots him about ten yards away. He has his arm wrapped around his sister and they’re talking together quietly. She looks well, all things considered, and more importantly, they both look so happy to be together and safe. Louis won’t let that happiness shatter. ****

He starts running toward them with the intention of telling them to find another way out of the city. He’ll help them find a different person to create new IDs for them, but for now, the most important thing is that they put as much distance between themselves and London without using any information that James might have access to, thanks to Harry.

Louis makes it about halfway toward them when a large man steps in his path, and Louis comes to an abrupt stop. With horror, he looks at the face of the alpha standing in front of him and realizes that it’s Jeff. Before he even has time to reach into his pocket for his gun, he feels the barrel of one push against his back. ****

“Nice to see you, Louis,” Jeff says. Louis glances around and sees three other men around him, including the one who is currently holding him at gunpoint. ****

Louis swallows and looks over Jeff’s shoulder at Liam and Ruth. He lets out a sigh of relief when he sees that they are still standing there unbothered and without any men standing near them. ****

“Wish I could say the same, Jeff,” Louis says in response. The man behind him digs the gun in deeper, and Louis winces. ****

Jeff just smirks at him. ****

“Do you know why I’m here, omega?” Jeff says, and Louis should spit in his face for calling him that. However, he doesn’t want to push his luck at the moment. He’s not the only person at risk here, not with Liam and Ruth so close and hundreds of other innocent people around them. He can’t make any rash decisions. ****

That’s also why Louis decides to play dumb. ****

“No idea,” he says. “Were you planning to visit your family? A girlfriend? I can’t imagine that your family would want to see you, and I’d imagine the only girlfriend you have is the one you’ve created in your head.” ****

Jeff looks like he wants to slap Louis for that, but he glances around at the number of people here and thinks better of it. ****

“You've been asking too many questions and you know too much about things you shouldn't know a thing about. James no longer needs your services, so it's time for you to be disposed of. That's why I tracked your burner, you stupid little bitch,” he answers instead. “We’d hired someone to take care of you, but they went offline over a week ago and I haven’t heard from them since, so we decided to stop wasting time and take care of you ourselves.”

Louis takes care to keep his face neutral, but Jeff’s words shake him to the core. Jeff hasn’t heard from Harry in days, which means Harry didn’t send him after Louis. It also means Harry didn’t send him after Liam and Ruth, and Jeff is currently completely ignorant of the fact that Louis’ former target is close by.

Jeff is talking again, but Louis isn’t listening. Instead, he chances another look over Jeff’s shoulder, and this time, instead of seeing Liam and Ruth standing and talking to one another, he sees that Liam is looking right at them with wide eyes. His mouth gapes open, and Louis makes eye contact with him. ****

With an almost imperceptible motion, Louis moves his head to the right and then the left. _Don’t do anything_ , he pleads with Liam internally. _Just turn around and get on that train with your sister, and never look back._ ****

Liam looks like he wants to approach, clearly aware that Louis is in danger, but Louis gives him another small head shake. This time, Liam gives him one last desperate look and mouths “I’m sorry” before nudging his sister forward toward the open door of the train compartment.

When they disappear from sight, safe and sound onboard, Louis can breathe again. ****

“Move,” Jeff demands, much like Louis did to Harry this morning, and Louis’ gut twists at the memory. He should’ve just listened to Harry, given him more of a chance to explain, but it’s too late now. ****

The man behind Louis removes the gun from his back, but Louis knows it’s just half-hidden beneath his jacket. There’s no chance for him to escape, not here, and Louis just needs to follow their commands and hope for the opportunity once they’ve left the station.

The train starts to move away as Louis walks, surrounded by Jeff and his fellow goons, and Louis can’t help the small smile that crosses his face at that. Liam and Ruth are safe. Louis is probably walking toward certain death, but Liam and Ruth are safe. Thank goodness for that. ****

For a second, Louis fears that they’ll just shoot him as soon as they get out of the station, but he should’ve known that Jeff is too clever for that. Instead, they usher him into a car at gunpoint, with one of the men taking the wheel and the rest filing in around Louis. The gun stays on him the entire time, and Louis knows this isn’t an opportunity to escape either. ****

“We’re going to your flat,” Jeff says as they drive. He’s gazing out the window in the passenger seat as if they’re just headed to the mall for some casual shopping, and it irritates Louis. “It’s so sad when someone takes their own life in their own flat when they live alone, isn’t it? Nobody will find them for days, probably. Not until it starts to smell.”

Louis bites his own lip to stop himself from crying. They’re going to make it look like a suicide, of course. They don’t want it to be traced back to anyone, so they have to keep it as an isolated incident that involves Louis and Louis alone. ****

He wonders who will find his body. Maybe Helene, or his landlord, or Zayn, who knows that Louis keeps a spare key taped to the underside of his door. He wonders how his sisters will react, and whether they’ll feel guilty that they didn’t know anything was wrong. ****

Louis feels himself tearing up again. As he watches the streets of London pass by outside his window, he wonders if this is the last time he’ll see them.

\--

It’s the first time Louis has been in his flat in weeks. He didn’t expect it to be at gunpoint, but he supposes that beggars can’t be choosers. Louis stands in the living room with a gun at his back as Jeff and his friends poke through Louis’ things and laugh. Louis feels his blood boil when they go into his bedroom and start mocking his nest.

“What a sad little place you’ve got here,” Jeff mocks as he glances around at Louis’ sparse furniture and small flat. Louis digs his nails into his palms to calm himself down.

Thankfully, they don’t destroy his things or move much, as he knows they want it to look like nobody has been here but Louis. They’re even wearing suppressants to mask themselves, and it makes Louis sick to realize how much thought they put into his murder.

“Where do you think it should happen?” Jeff asks. “The bedroom or the living room?” 

Louis just gazes back at Jeff calmly and doesn’t answer. He won’t give the alpha the satisfaction. Louis may die here today, but he’s not going to give Jeff even an ounce of what he wants before it happens. 

Jeff doesn’t bother waiting for an answer anyway. Instead, he reaches into the pocket of his coat and pulls out a DVD that Louis doesn’t recognize before walking over to Louis’ television and old DVD player, which he has perched on a small television console. This was one of the few things that Louis splurged on his in his flat, a surround sound system for his TV, and he remembers mentioning it to Jeff after he purchased it. Louis realizes immediately that they plan to mask the sound of any gunshots with this film, and when Jeff puts the DVD in and starts it, the gunfire begins almost instantly, filling his flat with the sound, and his heart sinks.

“I guess I should be flattered that you thought it would take four alphas to take me down,” Louis says loudly over the sound of the TV with a condescending smile. After all the years of feeling like all these men hated Louis because he looked down on him, as he looks at who they sent to kill him, he realizes that these men probably just hated him because they were jealous of him this entire time.

“Shut the fuck up,” Jeff says, walking forward and slapping Louis across the face the way he wanted to at the train station.

Louis tastes blood in his mouth, but he smiles anyway. Jeff can’t hurt him, not anymore. Louis has seen it all and done it all, felt hope and heartbreak in equal measurement today, and though he wouldn’t choose for things to end this way, he can’t change it. His sisters and Liam and Ruth and even Harry, tied up in his flat, are all safe. He’s done everything he can.

If this is the end of his story, then so be it.

“Let’s do it in his nest,” Ben suggests. He's one of James' men that Louis actually recognizes.

Louis clenches his jaw again at the thought of them killing him in his own nest, but he tries to brush it off.

They don’t even have time to move to the bedroom to prepare for the murder, however, before there’s a knock on Louis’ door. Jeff looks at the door and then at Louis. “Who the fuck is that?” He hisses out, the gunfire still sounding loudly from the speakers.

Louis has no idea, but he hopes to god that it’s not Helene from next door, or any other neighbor here to complain about the loud shots being echoed throughout the building thanks to his speakers. He doesn’t need the death of an elderly woman or any other random person on his conscience, not with everything else that’s already there.

Jeff stomps over to the door and glances through the peephole. 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he says before pulling the door open. 

Louis isn’t sure who he’s expecting when someone walks in, but it’s certainly not Harry. He smells him before he even turns around, vanilla and musk, and Louis’ heart drops. It seems impossible that he could be here considering Louis left him tied up and unable to speak, but Harry walks into Louis’ line of sight a moment later.

“Helloooo,” Harry says as he walks in, casual as can be. He glances at Louis without a reaction to the fact that the omega is being held at gunpoint, but Louis knows by now that Harry has an incredible poker face. He won’t make the mistake of underestimating the alpha again.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Jeff asks as he stalks over to Harry and presses a hand to his chest. They’re similar in height, but Harry has a larger build than Jeff, and there’s something hilarious about seeing such a pitiful alpha try and stand up to someone like Harry.

“Doesn’t matter where I’ve been,” Harry says, cocky as ever. “I’m here now,” he adds as he gestures around the flat and toward Louis. “I’m ready to kill this omega and get my money.” 

The two thugs who had been poking around Louis’ bedroom return to the living room at the sound of a new voice, though they seem to recognize Harry immediately. Rather than taking any drastic movements, they stand with their guns drawn, staring Harry down. Louis can see that Harry has a gun, but he doesn’t move to draw it. Instead, he finally makes eye contact with Louis, and as he does, as he moves his hand up to scratch the bottom of his chin.

Louis remembers what that means.

“After two weeks of radio silence,” Jeff says angrily. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding.”

Harry turns toward him and gives him a winning smile.

“You’re right,” Harry says. “I am kidding. I’m actually here to kill you and anyone who gets near my omega, enters his flat, touches him without his consent, and threatens his life.” 

Before anyone in the room has a chance to register his words, Harry pulls his gun out, switches the safety off, and fires one shot directly between Jeff’s eyes. Louis doesn’t wait for the body to fall before he’s breaking out of the hold of the alpha clutching his shirt and ducking just as the man's gun fires. Rather than wait for him to have another chance to aim properly, Louis spins around to grab the gun before the idiot even registers what is happening. 

Louis fires it three times toward the man’s chest, and though the alpha takes Louis down with him as he falls, he manages to wiggle out from under his body with the gun still in his grip. 

Across the room, Harry has already taken down the third thug and is crouched behind Louis’ sofa. It’s only Ben that’s left, and he’s popping his head out from Louis’ bedroom door as he shoots toward Harry.

The only reason that the police aren’t already here is because of the distracting noise of the TV and the slight volume control of the silencers on their weapons, but Louis knows they can’t fool his neighbors for much longer. They need to end this fast. 

Louis glances back at Harry, trying to figure out how he can help him, but he doesn’t realize that from behind the wall to his bedroom, Ben has now set his sights on Louis. He sees an expression of horror cross Harry’s face and immediately follows his line of vision to where Ben is cocking his weapon. It’s facing Louis, and there’s almost no time. As if in slow motion, Louis watches Ben's finger press down on the trigger.

Louis closes his eyes before the bullet hits him, but when he feels the impact, it’s not from Ben’s direction at all. Instead, it comes from the side of him, and Louis’ eyes open in shock as Harry collides with him, knocking Louis out of the way as his body forces itself between Louis and the bullet. Harry fires his weapon simultaneously as he moves, and there's a reason they say Harry's one of the best in the business. Even after firing while moving, even as Louis and Harry fall to the ground at the impact of Harry's body colliding with his, Louis can see that across the room, Ben has fallen too.

Louis hits the ground with a heavy thud and Harry lands on top of him.

“Oof,” Louis says as he’s crushed under Harry’s weight. As soon as he recovers from the wind being knocked out of him, he can’t help the laugh that escapes his mouth. “Holy fuck.”

He expects Harry to laugh with him, the gunshots still sounding through the speakers from the movie playing onscreen, but he just hears a wet chuckle. Harry makes no move to get off of Louis, and that’s when Louis pushes him over and wiggles his way out. 

Harry doesn’t move when Louis escapes from under him. He’s lying face down, and Louis swallows as he realizes that something’s wrong. “Alpha,” he says, using all of his strength to turn Harry over.

“Harry, no,” Louis says frantically when he sees what's on the other side.

There’s a bullet wound in Harry’s chest, far too close to his heart for Louis’ liking, and his shirt is doused in red. Louis immediately pushes his hand over the wound to try and stop the bleeding. “Harry, alpha, can you hear me?” 

Harry opens his eyes. It takes them a moment to focus on Louis, but Louis sees his face light up with recognition when they do. “Baby,” he says with a small smile. His teeth and lips are stained with blood.

“No, no, fuck,” Louis says, glancing around him for something that he can use to apply pressure. There’s nothing within reach, so he pulls off his hoodie and presses it against Harry’s chest before using one bloody hand to fish around in his pocket for his iPhone, taking care to avoid the burner phone that he now knows is being tracked.

Louis dials 999 and frantically gives them the address to his building, telling them that he found someone shot in the elevator and that they’re bleeding a lot. “Please hurry,” he says tearfully before he hangs up, still pressing down on Harry’s chest as the alpha stares at the ceiling with empty eyes.

“Harry,” Louis says. “You’re going to be okay, but you have to stay awake, alright? Promise me.” 

Harry nods. “Omega,” he says, and Louis nods.

“I’m your omega, yes,” he says. “But right now, we have to get you out of this flat and onto the elevator. They can’t find all these bodies here.” 

Harry’s eyes focus slightly more and he nods, clearly understanding what Louis is saying.

“Can you press this to your wound?” Louis asks. “I need to drag you and it’s going to hurt, but I promise that once you’re out of here, I’m going to make this right. I’m going to figure it out, okay, but first, we just have to get out of this flat.”

Harry nods and lets Louis move his hands to the hoodie pressed against his bullet wound. He’s not able to press as firmly as Louis is, but that just means Louis needs to muster all of his strength and act fast. 

He gets up and opens the door, first glancing out in the hallway to make sure it’s empty. Despite the literal gunfight that just took place in his flat and the one that continues taking place on his TV screen, nobody seems bothered, and Louis supposes that’s what happens when you live in a flat with thin walls where loud TVs are the least of everyone’s worries. 

With the coast clear, Louis turns back and steps around the body in his path to get to Harry. He considers dragging him by his arms or torso, but he knows that with the bullet wound and the need to keep the pressure on it, that’s not going to happen. He’s going to have to drag Harry by his legs. 

Louis runs to his nest and pulls out one of his softest sweaters before putting it under Harry’s head to prevent it from dragging on the ground as he goes. Harry is still conscious and watching Louis, and he gives him a small encouraging smile. 

“I’m so sorry, alpha,” Louis says just before he grabs Harry’s legs and begins pulling. He uses all of his upper body strength to drag the man’s body down the hallway to the elevator as gently as possible before pressing the button. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for the doors to open, and somebody must have Louis’ back today because it’s blissfully empty. 

“C’mon, babe,” Louis says, pulling Harry the last little bit into the elevator. Once they’re in there and Louis has slammed the button for the lobby, leaving blood marks behind Louis props Harry up against the wall and moves his hand away from where it’s holding on to the hoodie weakly. “I’ve got you.” 

Harry’s eyes are fluttering now.

“No, Harry, you’ve got to stay awake,” Louis says. His face is wet. “Help is on the way, okay? But you’ve got to stay awake until it’s here. It’s going to be okay, just like you told me, remember?” 

Harry opens his eyes again. “Love you,” he whispers, and Louis sobs. 

“I love you too, alpha,” he says desperately. “Stay with me, please.” 

Harry’s eyes slip closed as they reach the lobby and the doors open. Louis hears a scream as someone sees them inside, and he uses a blood-soaked hand to wipe the tears off his face before he turns to the people now gathering around the doors to the elevator. 

“I found him in here like this,” Louis says, not really caring if he’s convincing or not. “An ambulance is coming, but please, I need help.” 

When a doctor that lives in the building approaches and replaces Louis’ hands in applying pressure to the wound, Louis collapses into a heap next to Harry, who is no longer conscious. Louis lets his head drop onto Harry’s shoulder as he cries.

Eventually, the paramedics arrive and load Harry into the back of the ambulance. They ask Louis to ride up front so they can work on him, and though the prospect of being away from his alpha for another second is unbearable, Louis knows how close to death Harry is. He needs them to do everything they can to save him, and his feelings about it be damned.

 _He’s going to survive this_ , Louis tells himself as the ambulance drives through the streets, sirens wailing. 

He’s got to.

\--

Louis hasn’t been in a hospital since his mum passed. It’s strange for him to be back in a place that brought him nothing but pain, and even stranger still to know that there’s a good possibility that more pain is incoming. There’s a pit in Louis’ stomach as he stands by helplessly while the doctors and nurses push Harry’s gurney through the double doors at the emergency entrance.

They’re yelling a lot of things, things like “blood loss” and “no exit wound” and “collapsed lung,” but the words are just echoing around inside Louis’ head. He feels like he’s outside himself and watching everything that’s happening from another place.

The doctors and nurses take over for the paramedics who have been applying pressure to Harry’s wound, and Louis glances down at the blood coating his own hands. Harry’s blood.

“Are you with this patient, honey?” A middle-aged nurse asks, touching Louis’ elbow gently. He flinches, but when he realizes what she’s asked, he immediately looks at her apologetically. She just gives him an understanding smile and asks again. “Is this your alpha?"

Louis just nods.

“Can you tell me more about him and about what happened?” She asks, and Louis notices the clipboard in her hands. Harry is in a small room across the hall as they work on him, and Louis can still hear yelling as more and more people rush into the room.

“He’s 26 years old and allergic to penicillin and shellfish,” Louis says, recalling one of their conversations from the past week.

The nurse nods and jots that down. “And what’s his name?” She asks.

“Ha—” Louis cuts himself off. He can’t say Harry’s real name, not when James Corden and the rest of his thugs not in that room are still around. Not when several people were just murdered and nobody has found the bodies yet. “Please, I need to speak to a nurse at this hospital. Perrie Edwards.”

Something in his eyes must show his desperation, so the nurse just nods and walks over to the nurses’ desk, presumably to look up Perrie. While she does, Louis walks over to the window of the room where they’re working on Harry, seemingly setting up an IV and doing chest compressions.

“OR 3 just opened up,” a young beta nurse says, popping his head into the room. Of course, Harry’s gunshot wound requires surgery, Louis never could have expected any different, but something about hearing about his operating room makes it all too real. Louis can only watch silently as they wheel his alpha out of the room and toward surgery, not knowing if he’ll ever see Harry again.

“Louis?” A kind voice asks, and when Louis turns toward Perrie, he realizes his face is wet.

“Please,” he says, unable to stop himself from crying. “Can you help me? Harry’s been shot but nobody can know that he’s here. Can you — would you be able to check him in under a fake name like you did with Ruth? I just need some time to figure things out, please, I promise I’ll do anything if you jus—"

Perrie cuts him off with a hug, wrapping her arms around him and rubbing his back. Louis can’t help but collapse into her, the sobs overtaking him completely. She just soothes him while he cries, muttering sweet reassurances under her breath, and after a few minutes, Louis feels strong enough to pull back.

“Louis,” Perrie says seriously. “I talked to Liam and Ruth an hour ago. They’re safe and far away, and they told me what you and Harry did for them. I’ll help you with whatever you need.”

Louis sighs with relief, leaning in to hug her again. “Thank you,” he says. “Thank you so much.”

Perrie encourages him to sit down in one of the deceptively comfortable chairs in the waiting area while she checks Harry in under a fake name and includes Louis, also under a fake name, as his omega and only emergency contact. It only takes five minutes or so before she finds him again.

“All done,” she says, sitting down in the chair next to him and squeezing his knee gently. “Harry is in surgery to remove the bullet from his chest. The surgery will likely take an hour or two, depending on how difficult it is for them to retrieve it, and then he’ll be taken to the ICU. I’ve told Leigh Anne,” Perrie points toward a pretty black omega behind the desk. “To come to get you when he’s out. Okay?”

“Thank you, love,” Louis whispers. There aren’t words to express how grateful he is for Perrie, but he hopes she understands. She gives him another smile and knee squeeze before wandering off.

Louis doesn’t actually doze off while he waits for Harry to get out of surgery or for a surgeon to bring him the type of news that he can’t even think about without wanting to dry heave, but it almost feels like he does. He sits in a haze in the waiting room and watches other patients and their families come in and out without really registering anything that he’s seeing.

The only thing he does with any real thought put into it is text Niall from Harry’s phone. He tells him what happened and asks him to take care of the bodies in Louis’ flat, which the beta agrees to without hesitation. His only request in return is that Louis keeps him updated on Harry’s condition, which he promises to do.

It could be an hour later or three days later, but eventually, Leigh Anne does approach Louis and lets him know that Harry ("Jack," she calls him) is out of surgery and has been transported to the ICU, where he’ll have to stay until he’s stable enough to be moved to a regular room. Of course, Louis still hears the words she doesn’t say, which is that he’ll never be moved to a regular room if he doesn’t make it through the night.

She tells him a few other things about what the bullet damaged and what happened with Harry’s lung, but Louis can only think about going to see his alpha’s face again. After a few minutes of realizing that Louis probably isn’t listening to a word she says, Leigh Anne just gently offers him directions to the ICU.

Louis thanks her and gets up, still in his daze, before wandering into the elevator and then down several hallways until he finds Harry’s room. A frowning nurse is jotting down vitals when Louis enters, but his expression softens when he looks up and sees Louis there, still covered in blood, with bags under his eyes and dried tear tracks down his face. Louis knows he probably looks a right mess, but he can’t find it in him to give a damn.

“May I see him?” Louis asks, and the nurse nods.

Louis hovers awkwardly just inside the door as the nurse finishes writing, and when he finally does, he directs his attention back to Louis. “You can wash up in there,” he says, gesturing toward the restroom off of Harry’s room, and Louis just wants to go over and touch Harry, triple-check that he’s still alive, but he knows that’s probably unhygienic or something.

He rinses himself off as much as he can, though he writes off this hoodie as a total loss. When he finishes, the nurse has gone onto his next patient, and Louis can finally be alone with Harry.

Harry’s curls are flat on one side and there are still smudges of blood on his face from when Louis grabbed it. There’s a tube down his throat and a breathing apparatus under his nose, an IV in his right hand, and a hospital bracelet on his left. They’ve cut him out of his clothing, which Louis just knows Harry will be angry about when — _if_ , a horrible voice inside Louis’ brain whispers — he wakes up. His eyes are closed and you might almost think he looks peaceful, if you didn’t realize. Somehow, he looks like a mess and everything Louis has ever dreamed about all at once, and it makes Louis’ heart ache.

There’s a chair shoved into a corner by the lone window, and Louis drags it toward the bed, wincing at the scraping it makes against the hard tile. He settles into it and leans forward onto the bed to clutch Harry’s larger hand in his. Louis squeezes and leans in close.

“Alpha,” Louis says, and he can’t help that the tears start flowing yet again. “You’re going to be okay. I know that I almost fucked it all up, I know that — I know that it’s my fault you’re here, and you’re the only reason I’m alive, and I know that you’re going to want to say 'I told you so’ when you wake up.”

Louis lets out a wet chuckle.

“You’re going to have the chance, okay?” Louis says. “But you’ve got to fight. You’ve got to.”

Louis licks his thumb and wipes some of the blood off Harry’s face.

“We only had a couple of weeks,” Louis whispers. “I don’t even know if you’ll still want me when you wake up, after everything that happened, but….I’m your omega. Forever. There’s no getting out of it now."

It’s true. Louis doesn’t know how he knows it’s true, but he does. The excruciating pain he felt when he believed that Harry had betrayed him, it makes sense to him now. It’s because Harry’s Louis’ alpha and Louis is Harry’s omega and they’re meant for one another, just like Harry had said.

“We’re gonna have a lifetime together, alpha,” Louis says, laying his head down on the bed beside Harry. Harry’s heart rhythm speeds up slightly on the monitor. “You just have to wake up first.”

\--

Harry is moved out of the ICU three days later.

It’s been several nights of Louis sleeping in a chair beside Harry’s bed when all he wants to do is crawl into bed and curl up on Harry’s chest, which would be a terrible idea for obvious reasons, though Louis knows both he (and probably Harry, if he were aware of what was going on) would prefer it.

Harry opens his eyes a few times during that period, but he’s on so much pain medication that he doesn’t seem to recognize what’s going on or notice that there’s anybody there. Louis squeezes his thigh and talks to him every time, but he knows Harry probably isn’t absorbing anything that’s happening.

It’s okay though. Louis waited his entire life so far for this alpha, and he can wait a few more days. 

The news from the nurses gets better every day. His vitals are improving, his lung is expanding on its own, and his body is starting to heal. Perrie takes pity on Louis after a day and a half and runs to a shop to buy him a change of clothes when he stubbornly refuses to leave Harry’s bedside, and as time passes, Harry’s hospital room starts to smell less like his sick alpha and more like his healing alpha.

After the nurses move Harry out of the ICU, they decide to give Harry a sponge bath before they start really weaning him off of the heavy pain medication. To do so, they kick Louis out for the first time since he arrived. Even though it annoys him to leave Harry’s side for even a short period of time, Louis knows that he can’t complain. Omegas and alphas get special privileges to stay by each other’s side regardless of visiting hours because of the trauma it can inflict to separate them, and after Perrie wrote down Louis as Harry’s omega, Louis has never been more grateful for a traditional A/O law in his life.

Louis wouldn’t leave if he weren’t being forced, but since he has to step out anyway, he decides this is as good of a time as any to start confronting the future outside of this hospital.

Louis uses Harry’s phone to text Zayn, requesting that he meet him at the spot where they met in 30 minutes. Even though Zayn doesn’t recognize the number, Louis knows that he’ll show up.

Louis leans down to kiss his alpha on the cheek before he goes.

\--

Louis hasn't been to this street corner in a while, but he remembers it well.

Even though Louis has only been in the hospital for a few days with Harry, it feels like years have passed when he steps outside.

Zayn is smoking a cigarette and leaning up against a building nearby when Louis arrives, his shoulders hunched beneath an oversized colorful jacket that probably costs as much as two months of Louis’ rent. Louis smiles at the sight of him.

“Hey, babe,” Zayn says when he spots Louis, and upon seeing how exhausted and broken Louis looks, he guides Louis toward a bench nearby. “I was about to text you when you texted me — James asked me if I’d heard from you and I told him I hadn’t.” He smiles and throws the cigarette on the ground, stomping it with his foot until the sparks burn out. “He was acting so cagey about it that I thought something might be going on."

Louis swallows hard at the mention of James’ name.

James is not a good person and Louis’ always known that. It wasn’t exactly something you can hide from when someone sells drugs and exploits prostitutes for a living, but in an odd way, James was almost like Louis’ only parental figure for the past few years. He was horrible and ruthless and brought Louis into the darkest spiral of his life, but he also gave Louis an opportunity when there was no other available.

Sometimes, when Louis squinted and turned his head just so and remembered the number that he was just able to deposit into his bank account, he could almost convince himself that James cared about him.

Of course, that bubble of delusion is shattered now. Now Louis holds the needle to pop Zayn’s.

There isn’t time to share every detail, but Louis gives Zayn the overview of the past couple of weeks. He tells him about the mission to kill Liam, about Harry saving him, about the time they spent together as they tried to figure out what piece of the puzzle they were missing. He tells him about Harry’s lie, and about Harry getting shot, and about what he plans to do next.

Zayn sits quietly and lights another cigarette as he talks, but he doesn’t speak. The only discernible reaction to the story he gives is the squeeze to Louis’ arm when Louis describes his realization that Harry had been sent to kill him — that Harry was, at least for a short time, the villain instead of the hero.

“I know you like the money, Z, but you’ve got to get out,” Louis says when he finishes telling the story. “If he did this to me, he’ll do it too if he gets the chance.”

They sit in silence for a moment, and Louis’ stomach is in knots. He knows how smart Zayn is, but he also knows how much Zayn needs the money. He’s got an alpha wife at home with a young baby, and there’s nothing more important to Zayn than family, including his own life.

“Alright,” Zayn says finally. “I expect that it won’t be an issue anyway, considering what you’re planning, but I know you want to make sure I’m safe no matter what happens today.”

Louis nods and leans his head on Zayn’s shoulder.

“You’re my best friend,” he says. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”

Zayn kisses Louis’ forehead and smiles down at him. “Gigi’s been begging me to move to her mum’s place for ages, so I guess this is our chance. I always resisted because I wanted to prove that we can provide for ourselves, but I know this is no life for a parent. Killing people and running and always worrying that it will get back to the people I love. Maybe I just needed a kick in the arse like this to realize.”

Louis breathes a sigh of relief. He and Zayn both stand and face each other.

“Lou,” Zayn says. “You’re the best person I know and you always have been. I know that I wasn’t always able to be there for you like I should’ve been, too caught up with my own family and the job, but you’re my best friend too. I’m happy that you and Harry found each other.”

Louis smiles at that. He still hasn’t even spoken to Harry since the shooting, or at least, he hasn’t spoken to Harry in an instance where Harry can speak back, but it doesn’t matter. Louis knows they’re meant for each other, and even if it takes a lifetime of convincing for Harry to believe that again, he’ll do it.

“Thanks,” Louis says. His heart feels like it’s going to burst.

Zayn glances around before leaning in close.

“Do you need help getting rid of those bastards today?” He asks in a low voice.

Louis shakes his head. He would never put Zayn at risk like that, not when the omega has a family of his own to look after, but he also knows that he doesn’t need it. There’s absolutely no reason for Louis to have the level of confidence about his plan that he does, considering everything he thought he knew from the past couple of weeks turned out to be very wrong, but call it a gut instinct. He knows that he’s going to be able to pull this off, and he also knows he doesn’t need anyone’s help to do it.

“By the way,” Louis hears Zayn’s voice call just before he’s out of earshot.

Louis turns around and looks at him questioningly.

“If that dumb bitch alpha ever breaks your heart again, a bullet wound will be the least of his worries.”

It’s probably not something you should yell across a public street, but nobody is paying attention anyway. Louis laughs out loud and gives Zayn one final wave before walking away.

He doesn’t know when he’ll see Zayn again, but he’s not worried. Since that first day on this very street corner all those years ago, Zayn and Louis have always managed to find each other.

It’s what best friends do.

\--

Louis takes a taxi to a restaurant two blocks from the warehouse. He’s wearing a blonde wig that itches around his hairline and has a scarf wrapped up to his chin. He's also wearing suppressants to ensure that nobody smells him coming, and of course, tucked into the pocket of his jacket is a Glock with a silencer that Niall dropped off to Harry’s room yesterday evening. 

He walks casually down the street and carefully avoids the two security cameras he knows are in the area, keeping his head down to ensure they never get a good look at his face. When he reaches the warehouse, he sees that the parking lot is full, though he knows James is probably noticing by now that some of his best men, all of whom happened to be sent to kill Louis a few days ago, are not there.

Every Monday morning at 10 AM, James has a meeting with all of his goons. Louis and Zayn would sometimes be there too, though they would always sit in the back of the room unnoticed, doused in suppressants in the hopes of avoiding a confrontation with one of the alpha thugs that James keeps on the payroll. It was easy for them to become one with the background.

There’s a door on the side of the warehouse with a broken lock and no security cameras. Most people would never realize the lock is broken because it takes two good shoves from an alpha to get it open (four from Louis, he’ll admit), but Jeff would always forget to get it fixed no matter how many times James reminded him.

“There are more important things for me to do, boss,” he’d always say.

Louis offers up his four shoves now, smiling to himself when the door buckles. The stairwell is empty, just as he knew it would be, so Louis takes a quick moment to shove his wig into his coat pocket.

After all this time, Louis knows this building like the back of his hand. He makes his way silently down the hallways, a left here and a right there, until he reaches the corner just before the room that they always use when James wants to provide an update on the business from that week.

When he passes the office with the computer that the security cameras are connected to, he sends an internal reminder to grab the tapes before he gets out of here.

James despises anyone being late, so Louis knows that everyone who is showing up is already there. He can already picture the expression on James’ face as he explains that some of his best men are missing, and that both Louis and Harry have disappeared without a trace.

The room that they all meet in has a metal table and metal chairs. The most important people, the ones who handle the drugs and collect the money, always sit around the table with James at the head, and Jeff just one seat over. The less important players, the ones who do the low-level drug deals and the ones who handle the prostitutes, always sit at lone chairs lining the walls or stand with their arms crossed, trying to look more intimidating than they are.

Louis and Zayn were only asked to go to these meetings a couple of times over the years. James had intended them to show up every week, but after seeing how the alphas reacted to having two petite and beautiful omegas in the room and how distracted they were, he gave up on that plan quite quickly. Louis only ended up being asked to show up to this meeting when there was general information critical to an upcoming hit, but since James generally tried to give Louis as little information as was possible without interfering with his ability to pull it off, that didn’t happen very often.

It doesn’t matter though. Just a few times was enough for Louis to know how it goes.

Louis checks twice to make sure the coast is clear. It helps that James has always been too damn cocky and too confident in the loyalty of his dumb alpha stooges. Nobody is guarding the door from the outside and nobody is allowed to bring a weapon in except for Jeff, Ben, and James’ bodyguard. Two out of the three aren’t present today and are probably at the bottom of the River Thames by now, thanks to Niall's handiwork, so that leaves the room largely unprotected. 

It’s the perfect opportunity, and Louis plans to take it.

 _You’ve got this_ , Louis thinks to himself just before he turns the dull brass knob on the door.

Louis remembers the first time that Zayn introduced him to James, back when he was scared and cold and desperate for someone to give him a chance. Louis still felt like that same boy even just a few weeks ago, exhausted and alone in his nest, but something has changed inside him since then.

“That’s the thing about omegas,” James had said to him all those years ago. “You never see them coming.”

James was right about that.

\--

Louis is drooling on Harry’s hospital bed, face smushed into the sheet beside Harry’s hip. After days of sleeping in a hospital chair and constantly being woken by nurses coming in to check vitals and increase his dose of pain meds, the comfort of knowing that Harry made it through gave Louis enough security to finally sleep a little more deeply. Perhaps too deeply, if the puddle of drool is anything to go by.

The first thing Louis becomes aware of as his senses awaken is the sense of overwhelming calm. At first, he thinks it’s because of taking out James’ entire crew the day before, but Louis quickly realizes that it’s something more than that. Harry is scenting him.

He’s awake.

Louis startles then, immediately sitting upright and looking at Harry’s face. Sure enough, the alpha looks sleep rumpled and exhausted, but he’s giving Louis’ a dimpled smile.

“H,” Louis says, reaching out to touch Harry’s face as if to check that this is really happening.

“Baby,” Harry says. His voice is scratchy from both the lack of use and the intubation, but it’s the best thing Louis’ heard in a long time. “Long time, no see."

Louis can’t help the happy tears that leak out of his eyes at that, and he frantically wipes them away.

“I’m so sorry,” he starts, desperate to apologize for everything that had happened. If he’d just believed Harry when he tried to explain, none of this would have happened and Harry wouldn’t have gotten hurt.

Harry shakes his head fiercely.

“No,” he says. “I owe you an apology, not the other way around.”

Louis is about to protest, but Harry gives him an alpha look and he immediately quiets.

“I lied to you and I don’t blame you for not trusting me. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have either if I were in your situation. But you’re here now, and it’d be a cruel thing for a beautiful omega like yourself to leave an injured alpha in his feelings in a hospital bed, so I hope you’ll let me explain now."

Louis rolls his eyes and grabs Harry’s hand, intertwining their fingers. The alpha is still letting off calming pheromones, and Louis lets them wash over him as their scents combine in the room.

“Everything I told you about my past is true. I was a hitman for a while and I was great at it, but I wanted something else from my life. I hated not being able to tell my mum and sister what I did, hated always feeling like I had to check for police over my shoulder. So when I’d collected enough money to survive on for a while, I quit. Used my savings to buy the pub and decided to make a fresh start,” he explains.

He sighs and squeezes Louis’ hand.

“I loved it. Loved making drinks, loved talking to people. And then I met you, the most beautiful omega I’d ever seen. Like I said when we first spoke in my kitchen, I knew you were into something criminal, but I wasn’t sure what. The bruises, the cuts, how tired you always looked. How lonely you always looked. And you never really talked about yourself.”

Louis remembers those first days when he met Harry. The alpha always looked at him, but that wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was the _way_ Harry looked at him. It wasn’t like he just was a puzzle that Harry wanted to solve or a gift that he wanted to unwrap. It was like Louis was a book that Harry wanted to read, but he was always just out of reach on the shelf.

“I figured that if you were in a bad relationship, you wouldn't be allowed to go to the pub so late, and you didn’t smell like an alpha anyway,” Harry says. “That eliminated prostitution too. So I was always curious, but you kept me at arms’ length, and I was always afraid to scare you off. And I had no real business interfering in your life anyway. So I held back and hoped for a day that you might reach out first.”

Harry explains in more detail how a few weeks ago, he got a call from Jeff, who used to work for the same person Harry had worked for when he was still fully in the business. They were just passing acquaintances, but Jeff remembered Harry and remembered that he did good work.

“They said they had one of their hitmen that they needed to be taken out to clean up a mess they’d made. Jeff remembered that I was one of the best, and he knew that they needed someone with my level of skill to take out someone who was used to taking out other people. That was all they said besides the name of the person.”

Harry sighs and pulls Louis’ hand up to him so he can kiss it.

“When they said your name, I froze. I only even knew your last name from your credit card, but I recognized it right away. How many times had I swiped that card at the pub? More times than I could count. I should’ve just said no then, but then he said how much they’d pay me.”

Louis can’t blame Harry for that. He knows from experience how tempting James’ offers are. 

“When I hung up, I tried to tell myself that it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t know you, not really, and…the truth is, I didn’t have much in terms of savings left,” Harry admits. “The pub is a money pit, business is slow in winter, and I knew that this money could get me through another year at least without worrying.”

“I tried to talk myself into it. Told myself I was being ridiculous to even consider calling Jeff back and turning it down when you were just another beautiful omega from a bar.” Harry looks ashamed. “You went back to the pub that night, and I knew then that I couldn’t do it, but I didn’t tell Jeff.”

“What about the night that I tried to attack Liam?” Louis asks. He’s been curious since he realized the truth about Harry what he was doing there that night, and why he saved Louis.

“I saw you walk by the pub, but you didn’t come inside. You had this look on your face that I could see even through the window — I can’t even describe it, and maybe it’s just alpha instincts, but I had this pit in my stomach. I asked Lizzo to keep watch of the pub and I followed you. And as soon as I saw you slip into that alley, I knew what you were going to do.”

Louis’ mind flashes back to that night. He hadn’t been in the right state of mind to attempt that hit and could’ve been killed, probably should’ve been killed, and Harry’s the only reason he wasn’t. As difficult as it is to hear his alpha talk about considering killing him, Louis knows that the time in his flat wasn’t the first time that Harry rode in a white steed to save his life. The alley was first.

“I was going to turn around and go back. I didn’t want to get involved. But then I heard a gunshot and sounds of a struggle, and my feet started running before my brain caught up.” 

Harry laughs bitterly at the memory.

“I should’ve just told you the truth when I took you back to my flat. At that point, I was embarrassed that I’d ever even considered it. One look into your eyes and I was the most whipped alpha that ever lived, but I thought I could kill you? It was embarrassing,” he says, and Louis can’t help but smile at that.

It was kind of embarrassing.

“After you were asleep that night, I decided I would help you deal with the Liam situation and then tell you the truth and help you get out of town before James or Jeff or any of those guys figured it out,” Harry explains.

“But once we started growing closer,” Louis says. “Once we spent my heat together, why didn’t you tell me then? You slept with me, and then you put distance between us again, and then you started getting close to me again...it was a rollercoaster. I couldn't really figure out what you wanted, and through all of it, you never told me the truth.” There were so many opportunities, but Harry never took them.

Harry kisses his hand again and inhales deeply, clearly scenting Louis again.

“I started falling in love with you,” he admits. “As we got closer, I didn’t know how to tell you what I’d agreed to without fucking it up and losing the only omega that I’ve ever wanted to be with. I was scared to get too close because I knew how hurt you would be when you found out, but I was also too much of a coward to just tell you. That's why I tried to avoid sleeping with you during your heat, and when I failed at that, I tried to back off again afterward, and then failed again. I couldn't stay away from you." 

Louis thinks about the hot and cold, the confusion and rejection that he felt back in Harry's flat when he wouldn't give Louis what he wanted, and the unadulterated joy he felt when Harry would give in to his feelings and the tension between them. He understands it now.

"I hoped that if we could just solve the issue with Liam, I could find a way to tell you everything and we could be together for real, without my lies and guilt between us, Harry says. "I figured I'd give the pub to Lizzo and Niall, and we'd be able to run off together to ensure your safety. Get a fresh start and live happily ever after, or something like that. But you found out before I got the chance. I was an idiot, and there's no excuse. I'm so sorry for hurting you. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done."

Louis swallows hard, unable to even respond to that admission yet.

"How did you get out of the rope and find me?" Louis asks instead, because this is the other question that's been bothering him most.

Harry chuckles. "You didn't tie me that tightly, baby," he admits. "I got out very soon after you'd left, and then Liam called me. He told me what he'd seen when he was boarding the train, and it didn't take me long to figure out where they'd probably take you. I know how Jeff operates," Harry adds darkly.

After the admission of Harry’s continual lying, Louis should probably yell and throw things and stay mad at Harry forever, but honestly, he just wants to cuddle his alpha.

As though he senses it, Harry moves over in the hospital bed, patting the sheet next to him on his unwounded side.

“C’mon, baby,” he says, and Louis doesn’t need to be told twice. He crawls gently into the bed beside Harry and lays his head on Harry’s chest, carefully avoiding his bandage. Harry slowly maneuvers himself until he can wrap his arm around Louis and pull him in completely. “Can you forgive your alpha?”

Louis scoffs and buries his face in Harry’s chest, snuggling in closer. 

“You’re way behind the times, I’m afraid,” Louis says. “I forgave you days ago.” 

“Doesn’t seem fair that I was forgiven while unconscious so I couldn’t even enjoy it properly,” Harry grumbles, but the fact that holding Louis so tightly ruins the effect.

Louis just hums and closes his eyes, smiling to himself.

“I wonder what your past victims would say if they heard you saying that the worst thing you’ve ever done is hurt me when you literally ended their lives—” Louis says before Harry puts his hand from his good arm over his mouth, effectively silencing him. Louis bites his finger in response.

“Sleep now,” Harry says, but when Louis opens one eye to look up at him, he’s smiling.

Louis falls back asleep with pure happiness thrumming through his veins.

\--

Harry gets released on a Saturday. 

Louis spends a few hours cleaning his flat top to bottom beforehand, washing the dishes and cleaning the counters and changing the sheets. He goes to the market and buys flowers to brighten up the space, his own personal touch, and arranges them in vases on the bathroom counter, the kitchen table, and the night table.

Niall picks Harry up and drives him home, and Louis is waiting with Harry’s favorite takeout when they arrive. He thanks Niall before the beta bows out, though not without a check from Harry as thanks for taking care of the blood-soaked mess they left in Louis’ flat. 

As far as the police are concerned, Harry was shot in a failed robbery while he was going to visit his omega’s flat, and Louis knows that’s a case that will never be solved for them. It doesn't matter anyway, considering they plan to leave town very soon.

As soon as Niall leaves, Harry pulls Louis in for a hug. 

“Hi, baby,” he says kissing him on the forehead. Louis shivers.

He grabs Harry’s hand and guides him to the bedroom, which still has some remnants of Louis’ nest on his side, but is otherwise clean. Louis didn’t want a bunch of things in the bed when Harry is recovering, and though he loves his nest, he loves his alpha more.

“Love the flowers,” Harry says as he sits down gingerly in the bed. Louis beams.

“Oh, there’s food too!” Louis says, spinning on his heels and heading to the kitchen to grab the takeout from where it’s warming in the oven. The idea of having an alpha to live with and help care for is still new to Louis, but he’s learning and loving every minute of it.

Harry smiles when Louis returns with their meals, but Louis can tell that he’s exhausted. He fluffs the pillows behind Harry and pulls the blankets up over him when he’s settled before handing him a Chinese takeout container and a fork.

“I can use chopsticks,” Harry says defensively, puffing himself up with pride. 

Louis rolls his eyes. “Your right side is injured and you’re eating in our bed,” he says. “You’re using a fork.” 

Harry looks like he wants to argue for a moment, but then he registers Louis’ words. “Our bed,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

Louis sighs in defeat and leans in to kiss Harry, pulling away as soon as the alpha tries to slip him some tongue. 

“Food and rest today,” Louis says. “But who knows what tomorrow will bring?” 

Harry smiles like he has a pretty good idea.

\--

Louis and Harry wake up the next morning tangled together. Louis opens his eyes first, a rare occurrence, but likely due to the fact that Harry is still recovering from a bullet wound. He tries to move carefully so he can go to the kitchen and start making tea, but he barely has the opportunity to move an inch before Harry is reaching out and grabbing him.

“Harry!” Louis protests as Harry pulls him down and rolls on top of him. He’s a bit lopsided because he can only really put much weight on his good side, but he still manages to keep Louis pinned.

“I love you,” Harry says when he pulls back from a kiss. 

Louis smiles up at him. “I love you too.”

Harry noses into Louis’ neck and licks over his scent gland, and Louis can’t help but rock his hips up to meet Harry’s. The alpha groans and bites down, and that only makes Louis push his hips up further. He’s so close to just biting Louis’ bond spot, and Louis wants him to do it.

Still, there’s the small matter of Harry’s injury to consider. They can’t do this right now.

“Whatever you’re thinking, stop,” Harry demands, moving up to kiss at Louis’ jawline. Louis can’t help but continue wiggling underneath him, which only makes Harry rest more of his body weight on him, including his hard cock. 

“You’re hurt,” Louis reminds him. 

Harry rolls off Louis and for a minute, Louis almost thinks that maybe the stubborn bastard will listen to Louis, but instead, he just begins wiggling out of his boxers. He’s already shirtless with nothing but a bandage over his wound covering him, and once he’s out of his boxers, he’s completely naked beside Louis. 

“Well, if you’re not interested…” Harry says, from where he’s now splayed out beside Louis. He moves a slow hand down his own chest, working its way through his pubic hair, and finally grasping his erection. Louis immediately feels a rush of slick escape.

Louis’ mouth is watering, but Harry isn’t looking at him. His eyes are closed as he tugs himself off slowly, and Louis would probably be offended by the fact that his alpha is ignoring him if not for the fact that he knows Harry’s just trying to goad him into having sex. 

“You did save me, alpha,” Louis says, edging his way closer. 

Harry opens one eye and looks over at Louis, whose face is now inches from Harry’s cock. 

“I’ll always save you, baby,” Harry says seriously. Louis smiles and reaches out to push Harry’s hand away. He grasps Harry’s cock, wrapping his hand around it, and he can’t help but take a few seconds to admire how much bigger it is than his own.

Louis looks up at Harry through his eyelashes. “I know that, alpha,” Louis says to get Harry going even more. “And that’s why I’m going to give you my mouth.” 

Louis starts with a few kitten lips at the head, just enjoying the taste for the first time. Harry smells incredible down here, just a tad more musk and a tad less vanilla than anywhere else, and it makes Louis feel absolutely rabid. It doesn’t take long for him the put his mouth around the head fully before inching down, testing his own limits. 

It’s been a long time since Louis sucked a cock, and Louis’ never sucked one as big as this. He takes Harry down as far as he can go, enjoying when his alpha triggers his gag reflex. Harry enjoys it too, it seems, based on the groan he lets out and the fact that his hips buck up, gagging Louis further. 

“I’m sorry, baby,” Harry apologizes, but Louis just bobs off and shakes his head.

“My mouth is yours, alpha,” Louis says. Harry groans again and lets his head fall back into the pillow. This time when Louis takes him down all the way and Harry’s hips buck up, he doesn’t stop himself, instead fucking Louis’ throat with everything he has. Louis holds what he can’t fit in his mouth and lets his eyes water, enjoying the feeling of being fully at Harry’s mercy.

“Fuck, Lou,” Harry says finally. “Wait, wait.” 

Louis immediately pulls off, fearing that Harry might be in pain or not want to continue. Instead, however, Harry is frantically motioning toward Louis’ sleep shorts and the old t-shirt of Harry’s that he wore to bed. “Off, now,” Harry says, and Louis doesn’t think twice before he’s pulling the shirt over his head and pulling down his shorts. 

Louis didn’t bother putting anything on underneath the shorts, and he’s glad for that considering the slick dripping down his thighs would have just soaked them through anyway. Harry groans at the smell of Louis’ slick without the clothing barrier helping to suppress the scent, and Louis can’t help but pull at his own cock at the sound. 

He assumes that he’ll ride Harry, considering Harry’s injuries make most positions impossible, but he should’ve guessed that Harry would choose a position where he could still do most of the work. 

“On your side, baby,” Harry motions, and Louis lays down on his side next to Harry. Immediately, he feels Harry spoon up behind him, his large cock and growing knot poking between Louis’ cheeks. It must be somewhat painful for Harry to lay on his side like that, but he doesn’t say anything about it. He just uses his good arm to pull Louis’ thigh up, spreading Louis’ cheeks just enough for Harry to slip his fingers inside.

Louis is so slick that Harry’s fingers experience no resistance, and Louis is already close enough to coming that he shakes his head desperately. “Just do it, alpha,” he pleads. 

Harry doesn’t need telling twice. He pulls his fingers out and uses Louis’ slick to lubricate his cock before pushing inside. They both moan when Harry bottoms out, and Louis turns his head so that his and Harry’s lips can meet messily. 

They fuck slowly, partially because Harry doesn’t have all the strength to thrust that he normally would, and partially because this is the first time they’ve been together since Louis learned the truth about Harry, since Harry almost lost his life, and since they both confessed their feelings. Though the heat sex they had was incredible, this experience is on another level.

Eventually, Harry’s hips start snapping faster as he approaches orgasm, and as they do, he moves his hand from where it’s still holding Louis’ thigh to wrap around the omega’s cock. Louis whimpers and keeps his thigh up so that Harry can keep moving in and out as deeply as he was before. 

“Can I—” Harry starts to ask, panting against Louis’ ear. 

Louis doesn’t even need Harry to finish that question. 

“Please, please,” he says, clenching around Harry’s cock as he feels his stomach tighten.

Harry immediately leans in and gives a single lick to Louis’ bond spot before biting down, drawing blood and fusing them together for life. 

As soon as he does, Louis can feel Harry’s knot expand, and the alpha pushes it inside of him as he releases. Louis comes too, feels the splatter on his own stomach as Harry jerks him off, but he’s almost too focused on the feeling of euphoria and love rushing through his body to register that he’s also just had the best orgasm of his life. 

Louis’ eyes slip closed. He can still feel Harry filling him up with his release, and the alpha is also licking over the bond mark and soothing it with his tongue. 

“Alpha,” Louis says, turning his head back toward Harry. He’s not even sure what he’s even saying, still too caught up in the emotions coursing through his body.

Harry wipes Louis’ come off his hand and then uses it to turn Louis’ face toward him so they can kiss again, another messy slide of lips as they both struggle to function.

“I love you, Louis. My sweet omega,” Harry says when he pulls back.

There’s something so reverent about the way he says it. And when he says not only “omega,” but uses Louis’ name first, it’s like an acknowledgment that Louis is and always will be more than just Harry’s omega. Louis’ heart thumps in his chest. 

He’s Harry’s omega now, officially, but he is and always will be something more too.

\--

Louis scrolls through his phone and leans against the car as the petrol tank fills, tapping his foot along with the song that’s been stuck in his head since he heard it on the radio a few days ago. Harry ran in to buy them some snacks for the road, but he promised to go quickly so they can make it out of town before anyone might spot them. Louis is not particularly concerned about that risk.

Right now, all they know is that they’re headed north. It’s where Harry’s family and Louis’ sisters are, and more importantly, it’s a home that, even years after leaving, feels more familiar to Louis than London ever did. They’ll probably stay at a hotel for a while until they find a place of their own. A place where they can build a life together without violence and death. A place with vines growing up the walls, a big garden, and multiple fireplaces. A place where they can start a family.

It only takes a few more minutes for Harry to exit the building with a bag that Louis knows is filled with all of the junk food and soft drinks they need to sustain them during their journey.

He’s grinning and swinging the bag back and forth as he walks, walking dick first in that alpha way that makes Louis want to roll his eyes and gets him a little wet all at once. Louis makes sure to do the former and presses a palm against the back of his jeans in a futile attempt to prevent the latter.

Harry opens the back door and drops the bags onto the leather seat before stepping toward Louis and pressing him back against the car to kiss him breathless. Louis is already so used to Harry’s lips, his teeth and tongue and taste, that the kiss feels like one he’s been receiving from this alpha for decades.

When Harry pulls back, he doesn’t go far. Instead, he pulls Louis into him and kisses the omega on the forehead, tucking Louis under his arm and scenting him quickly.

“Ready?” He asks, the low tone making it sound like he just stumbled out of bed.

“Yes,” Louis confirms before leaning up to kiss his alpha on the lips again.

Harry opens the passenger door for Louis, always a gentleman, and while it does nothing to solve the situation brewing in his undergarments, Louis is grateful. He settles down in his seat and props his feet up on the dashboard as he gets comfortable in preparation for the journey.

Louis sees Harry wince slightly when he sits back in the driver’s seat, the painkillers not quite strong enough to fully take the edge off the throbbing of his bullet wound. Louis knows his alpha will only be in more pain by the end of their journey. Three hours is a lot of driving for someone to do so soon after a gunshot wound, but after they both broke their leases and Harry signed the papers to give The Temptress to Lizzo and Niall, Harry insisted they not wait another day.

Of course, Louis offered to drive to help relieve some of the burden, but all it took was a raised eyebrow from Harry to nip that offer in the bud. He can’t even blame Harry for that after what he told Harry about his driving. Louis will begrudgingly admit that he gives some truth to that particular stereotype about omegas.

“Okay?” Louis asks, but Harry just turns to him and smiles.

He turns the key in the ignition and they’re off, turning out of the parking lot and beginning their journey. As they drive through the streets of London one last time, Harry rests his hand on Louis’ thigh, his grip possessive and calming at the same time. It feels just right to be here with him, and Louis is grateful.

“You know,” Harry says after the comfortable silence has stretched on for quite a while. They’ve reached the outskirts of London now, buildings and dirty streets becoming fewer and further between as they move into the countryside. “I heard something funny when I was at the petrol station.”

Louis hums in response, curious.

“Some girl was reading the paper and mentioned to the attendant that there was a crime syndicate wiped out a few days ago. She said it was a bunch of people, seemingly caught off guard while in a meeting. I asked to read the article quickly and she handed it over. Apparently, no cameras captured who did it, the bullets are untraceable, and there’s no DNA on the scene,” he explains.

Out of the corner of his eye, Louis can see Harry glancing over at him, but he turns his gaze toward the scenery passing outside instead. He can’t prevent the small smile that comes over his face though.

“Sounds like it happened on Wednesday,” Harry says thoughtfully. “That’s the same day I was moved out of the ICU, isn’t it?”

Louis’ smile grows, but he still doesn’t move his eyes from the window.

“Hmm,” he says, feigning uncertainty. “It might’ve been.”

Harry hums to himself. “Thought so. That’s a funny coincidence, don’t you think?”

Louis finally breaks his gaze and looks over at Harry. Harry is looking at him with an expression that Louis can only describe as a combination of adoration and pride and love. Mostly love.

“Funny,” Louis confirms, smiling at Harry softly.

Harry squeezes Louis’ knee and smiles back. Louis knows they’ll talk about it later, but for now, it’s enough that they both know they’re safe. None of the people who tried to hurt them or who wanted them to hurt other people are around to do that ever again. They’re both truly free.

They don’t talk much, just offering a few passing comments here and there, and instead, the soft rumble of the engine and the random tunes from an oldies station are the soundtrack to their drive. Harry sings along when he recognizes the lyrics and Louis smiles every time. 

Harry keeps his hand on Louis’ thigh, all the secrets laid bare between them, the past becoming less suffocating the more distance they put between them and London. It settles into the rearview.

They’re not running away from anything, not anymore. They’re just moving on to something better.

The afternoon sun lights the road ahead of them, and they follow it.

\--

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for prompt 449 of the [Bottom Louis Fic Fest 2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Bottom_Louis_Fic_Fest_2020/works). The prompt reads: _Omega louis is a secret hitman. Harry is the bar owner near his apartment that always notices the new cuts and bruises on his skin._
> 
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